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LAME PRINCE

UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL

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Frontispiece—Little, Lame Prince.

"it was a boy, a shepherd-boy"

ALTEMUS FAVORITE SERIES

TH E LI TT L E
LAME PRINCE

and His Traveling Cloak

A Parable
For Old
And Yoitng

Miss Mulock

Author of "Adventures of a Brownie,
"John Halifax Gentlemen."

WITH

TWENTY- FOUR
ILLUSTRATIONS

P H I L A D E L P H I A
HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY

ALTEMUS' ILLUSTRATED FAVORITE SERIES
FOR YOUNG PEOPLE.

.. 1. ^SOP'S FABLES, with 62 illustrations

.. 2. ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND, with 42 illustrations

.. 3. ANDERSEN'S FAIRY TALES, with 75 illustrations

.. 4. ARABIAN NIGHTS ENTERTAINMENTS, with 130 illustrations

.. 5. BUNYAN'S PILGRIM'S PROGRESS, with 46 illustrations

.. 6. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS AND THE DISCOVERY OF

AMERICA, with 70 illustrations
.. 7. EXPLORATION AND ADVENTURES IN AFRICA, with 80

illustrations
. 8. GRIMM'S FAIRY TALES, with 50 illustrations
. 9. GULLIVER'S TRAVELS, with 50 illustrations
.10. LITTLE LAME PRINCE, with 24 illustrations
.11. MOTHER GOOSE'S RHYMES, JINGLES AND FAIRYTALES,

with 234 illustrations
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ADVENTURES, with 70 illustrations
.13. THE STORY OF THE FROZEN SEAS, with 70 illustrations.
.14. THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS AND WHAT ALICE

FOUND THERE, with 50 illustrations

.15. WATER BABIES, by CHARLES KINGSLEY, with 84 illustrations

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.17. RIP VAN WINKLE, with 45 illustrations

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Price 40 Cents Each

Henry Altemus Company Philadelphia

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Page
"They canio, walking two and two, with their

coronets on their heads" Frontispiece.

The Little Lame Prince 7

"The Crown-Prince, as he was called, tried to

seem pleased " 9

"She stretched herself on tip-toe by the help of
her stick, and gave the little Prince three

kisses" 21

"The doctors came, and each gave a different
opinion, and ordered a different mode of treat-
ment" 33

"Sliding down to the foot of the throne, he began
playing with the golden lions that supported

it" 37

"People noticed there, carried in a footman's arms,

a pretty little boy" 41

"There was seen a great tall black horse, ridden
by a man carrying before him on the saddle a

woman and a child " 51

"His grand funeral had been a mere pretense"... 55

" He mounted to the top of the tower" 57

"Oh, I want somebody — dreadfully, dreadfully !".. 63
" Dropping her cane, she laid those two tiny hands

on his shoulders" 65

(in)

iv Illustrations.

PAGE

" ' What a muddle your Royal Highness is sitting

in,' said she, sharply" 71

" He sat down on the floor, looking at the empty

shelves" 91

"The cloak rose, slowly and steadily, till it nearly

touched the sky-light" 97

"He felt something queer and hard fixing itself to

the hridge of his nose" 109

"A rocking-horse had come, packed on the back

of the other" 115

"Prince Dolor made a snatch at the topmost twig

of the tallest tree" 125

"The shepherd lad evidently took it for a large

bird, and shading his eyes, looked up at it "... 131
"Taking the Prince's slate, she wrote, ' You are a

King'" 151

" The eyes were shut, and the long gray beard lay

over the breast" 167

" There was a grand revolution" 179

"Thev went down on their knees before him, offer-
ing him the crown on a velvet cushion " 191

"He lifted up his thin, slender hand" 211

psiltl

v^^;

THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE.

CHAPTER I.

Yes, he was the most beautiful Prince
that ever was Lorn.

Of course, being a prince, people said
this; but it was true besides. When lie
looked at the candle his eyes had an ex-
pression of earnest inquiry quite startling

(7)

The Little Lame Prince.

in a new-born baby. His nose — there was
not much of it, certainly, but what there
was seemed an aquiline shape ; his com-
plexion was a charming, healthy purple;
he was round and fat, straight-limbed and
long — in fact, a splendid baby, and every-
body was exceedingly proud of him, espe-
cially his father and mother, the King and
Queen of ISTomansland, who had waited for
him during their happy reign of ten years —
now made happier than ever, to themselves
and their subjects, by the appearance of a
son and heir.

The only person who was not quite happy
was the King's brother, the heir-presump-
tive, who would have been king one day had
the baby not been born. But as his Majesty
was very kind to him, and even rather sorry
for him — insomuch that at the Queen's re-
quest he gave him a dukedom almost as
big as a county — the Crown-Prince, as he

The Little Lame Prince.

was called, tried to seem pleased also ; and
let us hope he succeeded.

The Prince's christening was to be a

IJk

' !,i

wmm

"The Crown-Prince, as he was called, tried to seem
pleased."

grand affair. According to the custom of
the country, there were chosen for him
four-and-twenty godfathers and godmothers,

The Little Lame Prince.

who each had to give him a name, and
promise to do their utmost for him. "When
he came of age, he himself had to choose
the name — and the godfather or godmother
— that he liked best, for the rest of his days.

Meantime all was rejoicing. Subscrip-
tions were made among the rich to give
pleasure to the poor : dinners in town-halls
for the working-men ; tea-parties in the
streets for their wives ; and milk and bun
feasts for the children in the school-rooms.
For Nomansland, though I can not point it
out in any map, or read of it in any history,
was, I believe, much like our own or many
another country.

As for the Palace — which was no differ-
ent from other palaces — it was clean "turned
out of the windows," as people say, with
the preparations going on. The only quiet
place in it was the room which, though the
Prince was six weeks old, his mother the

^>sC;

The Little Lame Prince.

Queen Lad never quitted. Nobody said
elie was ill, however — it would have been
so inconvenient; and as she said nothing
about it herself, but lay pale and placid,
giving no trouble to any body, nobody
thought much about her. All the world
was absorbed in admiring the baby.

The christening-day came at last, and it
was as lovely as the Prince himself. All
the people in the Palace were lovely too —
or thought themselves bo — in the elegant
new clothes which the Queen, who thought
of every body, had taken care to give them,
from the ladies-in-waiting down to the poor
little kitchen-maid, who looked at herself in
her pink cotton gown, and thought, doubt-
less, that there never was such a pretty girl
as she.

By six in the morning all the royal house-
hold had dressed itself in its very best;
and then the little Prince was dressed in

IV»J3

The Little Lame Prince.

his best — his magnificent christening-robe;
which proceeding his Royal Highness did
not like at all, but kicked and screamed
like any common baby. When he had a
little calmed down, they carried him to be
looked at by the Queen his mother, who,
though her royal robes had been brought and
laid upon the bed, was, as every body well
knew, quite unable to rise and put them on.
She admired her baby very much; kissed
and blessed him, and lay looking at him, as
she did for hours sometimes, when he was
placed beside her fast asleep ; then she gave
him up with a gentle smile, and, saying she
hoped he would be very good, that it would
be a very nice christening, and all the
guests would enjoy themselves, turned peace-
fully over on her bed, saying nothing more
to any body. She was a very uncomplain-
ing person, the Queen — and her name was
Dolorez.

The Little Lame Trincc.

Every thing went on exactly as if she had
been present. All, even the King himself,
had grown used to her absence ; for she
was not strong, and for years had not joined
in any gayeties. She always did her royal
duties, but as to pleasures, they could go on
quite well without her, or it seemed so.
The company arrived: great and notable
persons in this and neighboring countries;
also the four-and-twenty godfathers and god-
mothers, who had been chosen with care, as
the people who would be most useful to his
Royal Highness should he ever want friends,
which did not seem likely. "What such
want could possibly happen to the heir of
the powerful monarch of Nomansland ?

They came, walking two and two, with
their coronets on their heads — being dukes
and duchesses, princes and princesses, or
the like ; they all kissed the child, and pro-
nounced the name which each had given

The Little Lame Prince.

him. Then the four-and-twenty names were
shouted out with great energy by six her-
alds, one after the other, and afterward
written down, to be preserved in the state
records, in readiness for the next time they
were wanted, which would be either on his
Royal Highness's coronation or his funeral.
Soon the ceremony was over, and every
body satisfied; except, perhaps, the little
Prince himself, who moaned faintly under
his christening robes, which nearly smoth-
ered him.

In truth, though very few knew, the
Prince in coming to the chapel had met
with a slight disaster. His nurse — not his
ordinary one, but the state nurse-maid — an
elegant and fashionable young lady of rank,
whose duty it was to carry him to and from
the chapel, had been so occupied in arrang-
ing her train with one hand, while she held
the baby with the other, that she stumbled

The Little Lame Prince.

and let him fall, just at the foot of the marble
staircase. To bo sure, she contrived to
pick him up again the next minute ; and
the accident was so slight it seemed hardly
■worth speaking of. Consequently nobody
did speak of it. The baby bad turned
deadly pale, but did not cry, so no person a
step or two behind could discover any
thing wrong; afterward, even if he had
moaned, the silver trumpets were loud
enough to drown his voice. It would have
been a pity to let any thing trouble such a
day of felicity.

So, after a minute's pause, the procession
had moved on. Such a procession ! Her-
alds in blue and silver ; pages in crimson
and gold; and a troop of little girls in daz-
zling white, carrying baskets of flowers,
which they strewed all the way before the
nurse and child — finally the four-and-twenty
godfathers and godmothers, as proud as

The Little Lame Prince.

possible, and so splendid to look at that they
would have quite extinguished their small
godson — merely a heap of lace and muslin
with a baby face inside — had it not been
for a canopy of white satin and ostrich
feathers which was held over him wherever
he was carried.

Thus, with the sun shining on them
through the painted windows, they stood;
the King and his train on one side, the
Prince and his attendants on the other, as
pretty a sight as ever was seen out of fairy-
land.

"It's just like fairyland," whispered the
eldest little girl to the next eldest, as she
shook the last rose out of her basket ; " and
I think the only thing the Prince wants
now is a fairy godmother."

" Does he ?" said a shrill but soft and uot
unpleasant voice behind; and there was
seen among the group of children some-

The Little Lame Prince.

body — not a child, yet no bigger than a
child — somebody whom nobody had seen
before, and who certainly had not been in-
vited, for she had no christening clothes on.

She was a little old woman dressed all in
gray : gray gown ; gray hooded cloak, of a
material excessively fine, and a tint that
seemed perpetually changing, like the gray
of an evening sky. Her hair was gray, and
her eyes also — even her complexion had a
soft gray shadow over it. But there was
nothing unpleasantly old about her, and
her smile was as sweet and childlike as the
Prince's own, which stole over his pale
little face the instant she came near enough
to touch him.

"Take care! Don't let the baby fall
again."

The grand young lady nurse started,
flushing angrily.

" Who spoke to me ? How did any

The Little Lame Prince.

body know? — I mean, what business has
any body — ?" Then, frightened, but still
speaking in a much sharper tone than I
hope young ladies of rank are in the habit
of speaking — " Old woman, you will be
kind enough not to say 'the baby,' but ' the
Prince.' Keep away ; his Royal Highness
is just going to sleep."

" Nevertheless I must kiss him. I am
his godmother."

"You!" cried the elegant lady nurse.

" You ! !" repeated all the gentlemen and
ladies in waiting.

"You! ! !" echoed the heralds and pages
— and they began to blow the silver trum-
pets in order to stop all further conversa-
tion.

The Prince's procession formed itself for

rcturning-

-the Kino; and his train having

already moved off toward the palace — but
on the topmost step of the marble stairs

The Little Lame Prince.

"Nevertheless I know her Majesty well,
and I love her and her child. And — since
you dropped him on the marble stairs (this
she said in a mysterious whisper, which
made the young lady tremble in spite of
her anger) — I choose to take him for my
own, and be his godmother, ready to help
him whenever he wants me."

"You help him!" cried all the group,
breaking into shouts of laughter, to which
the little ^old woman paid not the slightest
attention. Her soft gray eyes were fixed
on the Prince, who seemed to answer to
the look, smiling again and again in the
causeless, aimless fashion that babies do
smile.

" His Majesty must hear of this,"' said a
gentleman-in-waiting.

" His Majesty will hear quite enough news
in a minute or two," said the old woman,
Badly. And again stretching up to the

The Little Lame Prince.

J)olor, in memory of your mother Do-
lorez."

" In memory of!" Every body started
at the ominous phrase, and also at a most
terrible breach of etiquette which the old
woman had committed. In Nomansland,
neither the king nor the queen were sup-
posed to have any Christian name at all.
They dropped it on their coronation-day,
and it was never mentioned again till it was
engraved on their coffins when they died.

" Old woman, you are exceedingly ill-
bred," cried the eldest lady-in-waiting, much
horrified. " How you could know the fact
passes my comprehension. But even if
you did not know it, how dared you pre-
sume to hint that her most gracious Majesty
is called Dolorez ?"

" Was called Dolorez," said the old wo-
man, with a tender solemnity.

The first gentleman, called the Gold-

The Little Lame Prince.

stick-in-waiting, raised it to strike her, and
all the rest stretched out their hands to
seize her ; but the gray mantle melted from
between their fingers like air; and, before
any body had time to do any thing more,
there came a heavy, muffled, startling
sound.

The great bell of the palace — the bell
which was only heard on the death of some
one of the Royal family, and for as many
times as he or she was years old — began to
toll. They listened, mute and horror-
stricken. Some one counted : one — two —
three — four — up to nine-and-twcnty — just
the Queen's age.

It was, indeed, the Queen. Her Majesty
was dead ! In the midst of the festivities
she had slipped away, out of her new hap-
piness and her old sufferings, not few nor
small. Sending away all her women to see
the grand sight — at least they said after-

The Little Lame Prince.

ward, in excuse, that she had done so, and
'it was very like her to do it — she had
turned with her face to the window, whence
one could just see the tops of the distant
mountains — the Beautiful Mountains, as
they were called — where she was born.
So gazing, she had quietly died.

When the little Prince was carried back
to his mother's room, there was uo mother
to kiss him. And, though he did not know
it, there would be for him no mother's kiss
any more.

As for his godmother — the little old
woman in gray who called herself so —
whether she melted into air, like her gown
when they touched it, or whether she flew
out of the chapel window, or slipped through
the doorway among the bewildered crowd,
nobody knew — nobody ever thought about
her.

Only the nurse, the ordinary homely one,

The Little Lame Prince.

coming out of the Prince's nursery in the
middle of the night in search of a cordial
to quiet his continual moans, saw, sitting in
the doorway, something which she would
have thought a mere shadow, had she not
seen shining out of it two eyes, gray and
soft and sweet. She put her hand before
her own, screaming loudly. When she
took them away, the old woman was gone.

--.

The Little Lame Prince.

CHAPTER II.

Every body was very kind to the poor
little Prince. I think people generally are
kind to motherless children, whether princes
or peasants. He had a magnificent nursery,
and a regular suite of attendants, and was
treated with the greatest respect and state.
Nobody was allowed to talk to him in silly
baby language, or dandle him, or, above all,
to kiss him, though perhaps some people
did it surreptitiously, for he was such a
sweet baby that it was difficult to help it.

It could not be said that the Prince missed
his mother — children of his age can not do
that ; but somehow after she died every
thing seemed to go wrong with him. From
a beautiful baby he became sickly and pale,,
seeming to have almost ceased growing,

The Little Lame Prince.

especially in his legs, which had been so fat
and strong. But after the day of his chris-
tening they withered and shrank; he no
longer kicked them out either in passion or
play, and "when, as he got to be nearly a
year old, his nurse tried to make him stand
upon them, he only tumbled down.

This happened so many times that at last
people began to talk about it. A prince,
and not able to stand on his own legs!
What a dreadful thing ! what a misfortune
for the country !

Rather a misfortune to him also, poor
little boy ! but nobody seemed to think of
that, And when, after a while, his health
revived, and the old bright look came back
to his sweet little face, and his body grew
larger and stronger, though still his legs
remained the same, people continued to
speak of him in whispers, and with grave
shakes of the head. Every body knew,

The Little Lame Prince.

though nobody said it, that something, it
fwas impossible to guess what, was not quite
right with the poor little Prince.

Of course, nobody hinted this to the King
his father: it does not do to tell great people
any thing unpleasant. And besides, his
Majesty took very little notice of his son, or
of his other affairs, beyond the necessary
duties of his kingdom. People had said he
would not miss the Queen at all, she having
been so long an invalid, but he did. After
her death he never was quite the same,
lie established himself in her empty rooms,
the only rooms in the palace whence one
could see the Beautiful Mountains, and was
often observed looking at them as if he
thought she had flown away thither, and
that his longing could bring her back again.
And by a curious coincidence, which nobody
dared inquire into, he desired that the Prince
might be called, not by any of the four-and-

The Little Lame Prince.

twenty grand names given him by hie god-
fathers and godmothers, but by the identical
name mentioned by the little old woman in
gray — Dolor, after his mother Dolorez.

Onee a week, according to established
state custom, the Prince, dressed in his
very best, was brought to the King his
father for half an hour, but his Majesty was
generally too ill and too melancholy to pay
much heed to the child.

Only once, when he and the Crown-
Prince, who was exceedingly attentive to
his royal brother, were sitting together,
with Prince Dolor playing in a corner of
the room, dragging himself about with his
arms rather than his legs, and sometimes
trying feebly to crawl from one chair to
another, it seemed to strike the father that
all was not right with his son.

"How old is his Royal Highness ?" said
he suddenly to the nurse.

The Little Lame Prince.

" Two years, three months, and five days,
please your Majesty."

" It does not please me," said the King,
with a sigh. " He ought to be far more for-
ward than he is now — ought he not, brother?
You, who have so many children, must know.
Is there not something wrong about him ?"

" Oh, no," said the Crown-Prince, ex-
changing meaning looks with the nurse,
who did not understand at all, but stood
frightened and trembling with the tears in
her eyes. " Nothing to make your Majesty
at all uneasy. No doubt his Royal High-
ness will outgrow it in time."

" Outgrow — what ?"

"A slight delicacy — ahem ! — in the spine;
something inherited, perhaps, from his dear
mother."

"Ah, she was always delicate; but she
was the sweetest woman that ever lived.
Come here, my little son."

j.-f'L

The Little Lame Prince.

And as the Prince turned round upon his
father a small, sweet, grave face — so like his
mother's — his Majesty the King smiled and
held out his arms. Put when the boy
came to him, not running like a hoy, hut
wriggling awkwardly along the floor, the
royal countenance clouded over.

" I ought to have been told of this. It is
terrible — terrible! And for a prince, too.
Send for all the doctors in my kingdom im-
mediately."

They came, and each gave a different
opinion, and ordered a different mode of
treatment. The only thing they agreed in
was what had been pretty well known be-
fore, that the Prince must have been hurt
when he was an infant — let fall, perhaps, so
as to injure his spine and lower limbs. Did
nobody remember ?

No, nobody. Indignantly, all the nurses
denied that any such accident had hap-

The Little Lame Prince.

pened, was possible to have happened, until
the faithful country nurse recollected that
it really had happened on the day of the
christening. For which unluckily good
memory all the others scolded her so se-
verely that she had no peace of her life, and
soon after, by the influence of the young
lady nurse who had carried the baby that
fatal day, and who was a sort of connection
of the Crown-Prince — being his wife's sec-
ond cousin once removed — the poor woman
was pensioned off, and sent to the Beautiful
Mountains, from whence she came, with or-
ders to remain there for the rest of her
days.

But of all this the King knew nothing,
for, indeed, after the first shock of finding
out that his son could not walk, and seemed
never likely to walk, he interfered very lit-
tle concerning him. The whole thing was
too painful, and his Majesty never liked

The Little Lame Prince.

painful things. Sometimes lie inquired
after Prince Dolor, and they told liini Lis
Royal Highness was going on as well as
could be expected, which really was the
case. For, after worrying the poor child
and perplexing themselves with one remedy

" The doctors came, and each gave a different opinion,
and ordered a different mode of treatment."

after another, the Crown-Prince, not wish-
ing to offend any of the differing doctors,
had proposed leaving him to Nature ; and
Nature, the safest doctor of all, had come
to his help, and done her best. He could
not walk, it is true; his limbs were mere

v;->

The Little Lame Prince.

useless appendages to his body; but the
body itself was strong and sound. And
his face Avas the same as ever — -just his
mother's face, one of the sweetest in the
world.

Even the King, indifferent as he was,
sometimes looked at the little fellow with
sad tenderness, noticing how cleverly he
learned to crawl and swing himself about
by his arms, so that in his own awkward
way he was as active in motion as most
children of his age.

" Poor little man ! he does his best, and
he is not unhappy — not half so unhappy as
I, brother," addressing the Crown-Prince,
who was more constant than ever in his at-
tendance upon the sick monarch. " If any-
thing should befall me, I have appointed
you as Regent. In case of my death, you
will take care of my poor little boy ?"

Certainly, certainly ; but do not let us im-

The Little Lame Prince.

agino any such misfortune. I assure your
Majesty — everybody will assure you — that
it is not in the least likely."

lie knew, however, and everybody knew,
that it was likely, and soon after it actually
did happen. The King died as suddenly
and quietly as the Queen had done — indeed,
in her very room and bed ; and Prince Dolor
was left without either father or mother —
as sad a thing as could happen, even to a
prince.

lie was more than that now, though. He
was a king. In Nbmansland, as in other
countries, the people were struck with grief
one day and revived the next. " The king
is dead — long live the king!" was the cry
that rang through the nation, and almost
before his late Majesty had been laid beside
the Queen in their splendid mausoleum,
crowds came thronging from all parts to the
royal palace, eager to see the new monarch.

The Little Lame Prince.

They did see him — the Prince Regent
took care they should — sitting on the floor
of the council-chamber, sucking his thumb !
And when one of the gentlemen-in-waiting
lifted him up and carried him — fancy carry-
ing a king ! — to the chair of state, and put
the crown on his head, he shook it off again,
it was so heavy and uncomfortable. Sliding
down to the foot of the throne, he began
playing with the golden lions that supported
it, stroking their paws and putting his tiny
fingers into their eyes, and laughing — laugh-
ing as if he had at last found something to
amuse him.

" There's a fine king for you !" said the
first lord-in-waiting, a friend of the Prince
Regent's (the Crown-Prince that used to be,
who, in the deepest mourning, stood silently
beside the throne of his young nephew.
He was a handsome man, very grand and
clever-looking). " What a king ! who can

The Little Lame Prince.

never stand to receive his subjects, never
walk in processions, who to the last day of
his life will have to be carried about like a
baby. Very unfortunate !"

" Sliding down to the foot of the throne, he began play-
ing with the golden lions that supported it."

" Exceedingly unfortunate," repeated the
* second lord. " It is always bad for a na-
tion when its king is a child ; but such a
child — a permanent cripple, if not worse."
" Let us hope not worse," said the first lord

The Little Lame Prince.

in a very hopeless tone, and looking toward
the Regent, who stood erect and pretended
to hear nothing. " I have heard that these
sort of children with very large heads, and
great broad foreheads and staring eyes, are
— well, well, let us hope for the best and be
prepared for the worst. In the mean time — "

" I swear," said the Crown-Prince, com-
ing forward and kissing the hilt of his sword
— " I swear to perform my duties as Regent,
to take all care of his Royal Highness —
his Majesty, I mean," with a grand bow to
the little child, who laughed innocently
back again. " And I will do my humble
best to govern the country. Still, if the
country has the slightest objection — "

But the Crown-Prince being generalissi-
mo, and having the whole army at his beck
and call, so that he could have begun a civil
war in no time, the countr}T had, of course,
not the slightest objection.

The Little Lame Prince.

So the King and Queen slept together in
peace, and Prince Dolor reigned over the
land — that is, his uncle did; and every
body said what a fortunate thing it was tor
the poor little Prince to have such a clever
uncle to take care of him. All things went
on as usual; indeed, after the Regent had
brought his wife and her seven sons, and es-
tablished them in the palace, rather better
than usual. For they gave such splendid
entertainments and made the capital so
lively that trade revived, and the country
was said to be more flourishing than it had
been for a century.

Whenever the Regent and his sons ap-
peared, they were received with shouts —
" Long live the Crown-Prince !" " Long
live the Royal family!" And, in truth,
they were very fine children, the whole
seven of them, and made a great show
when they rode out together on seven beau-

The Little Lame Prince.

tiful horses, one height above another, clown
to the youngest, on his tiny black pony, no
bigger than a large clog.

As for the other child, his Royal High-
ness Prince Dolor — for somehow people
soon ceased to call him his Majesty, which
seemed such a ridiculous title for a poor
little fellow, a helpless cripple, with only
head and trunk, and no legs to speak of —
he was seen very seldom by any body.

Sometimes people daring enough to peer
over the high wall of the palace garden
noticed there, carried in a footman's arms,
or drawn in a chair, or left to play on the
grass, often with nobody to mind him, a
pretty little boy, with a bright, intelligent
face and large, melancholy eyes — no, not
exactly melancholy, for they were his mo-
ther's, and she was by no means sad-minded,
but thoughtful and dreamy. They rather
perplexed people, those childish eyes ; they

The Little Lame Prince.

prise — the child never talked much — that
every naughty person in the palace was
rather afraid of Prince Dolor.

lie could not help it, and perhaps he did
not even know it, being no better a child
than many other children, but there was
something about him which made bad peo-
ple sorry, and grumbling people ashamed
of themselves, and ill-natured people gentle
and kind. I suppose because they were
touched to see a poor little fellow who did
not in the least know what had befallen him
or what lay before him, living his baby
life as happy as the day was long. Thus,
whether or not he Avas good himself, the
sight of him and his affliction made other
people good, and, above all, made every
body love him — so much so, that his uncle
the Regent began to feel a little uncomfort-
able.

Now I have nothing to say against uncles

The Little Lame Prince.

in general. They are usually very excellent
people, and very convenient to little boys
and girls. Even the "cruel uncle" of
" The Babes in the Wood " I believe to be
quite an exceptional character. And this
" cruel uncle " of whom I am telling; was, I
hope, an exception too.

lie did not mean to be cruel. If any
body had called him so, he would have re-
sented it extremely : lie Would have said
that what lie did was done entirely for the
good of the country. But he was a man
who had always been accustomed to con-
sider himself first and foremost, believing
that whatever he wanted was sure to be
right, and therefore he ought to have it.
So he tried to get it, and got it too, as peo-
ple like him very often do. Whether they
enjoy it when they have it is another ques-
tion.

Therefore he went one day to the council-

The Little Lame Prince.

^:§

chamber, determined on making a speech,
and informing the ministers and the country
at large that the young King was in failing
health, and that it would be advisable to
send him for a time to the Beautiful Moun-
tains. Whether he really meant to do this,
or whether it occurred to him afterward
that there would be an easier way of attain-
ing his great desire, the crown of Romans-
land, is a point which I can not decide.

But soon after, when he had obtained an
order in council to send the King away —
which was done in great state, with a guard
of honor composed of two whole regiments
of soldiers — the nation learned, without
much surprise, that the poor little Prince —
nobody ever called him king now — had
gone a much longer journey than to the
Beautiful Mountains.

lie had fallen ill on the road and died
within a few hours ; at least so declared the

The Little Lame Prince.

physician in attendance and the nurse who
had been sent to take care of him. They
brought his coffin back in great state, and
buried it in the mausoleum with his parents.
So Prince Dolor was seen no more. The
country went into deep mourning for him,
and then forgot him, and his uncle reigned
in his stead. That illustrious personage
accepted his crown with great decorum, and
wore it with great dignity to the last. But
whether lie enjoyed it or not there is no
evidenee to show.

The Little Lame Prince.

CHAPTER III.

And what of the little lame Prince, whom
every body seemed so easily to have for-
gotten ?

Not every body. There were a few kind
souls, mothers of families, who had heard
his sad story, and some servants about the
palace, who had been familiar with his
sweet ways — these many a time sighed and
said " Poor Prince Dolor !" Or, looking at
the Beautiful Mountains, which were visible
all over Nomansland, though few people
ever visited them, " AVell, perhaps his Royal
Highness is better where he is than even
there."

They did not know — indeed, hardly any
body did know — that beyond the moun-
tains, between them and the sea, lay a tract

The Little Lame Prince.

of country, barren, level, bare, except for
short, stunted grass, and here and there a
patch of tiny flowers. Not a hush — not a
tree — not a resting-place for bird or beast
was in that dreary plain. In summer, the
sunshine fell upon it hour after hour with a
blinding glare; in winter, the winds and
rains swept over it unhindered, and the
snow came down steadily, noiselessly, cover-
ing it from end to end in one great white
sheet, which lay for days and weeks un-
marked by a single footprint.

Not a pleasant place to live in — and no-
body did live there, apparently. The only
sign that human creatures had ever been
near the spot was one large round tower
which rose up in the centre of the plain,
and might be seen all over it — if there had
been any body to see, which there never
was. Rose right up out of the ground, as
if it had grown of itself, like a mushroom.

Z&2]

The Little Lame Prince.

But it was not at all mushroom-like ; on the
contrary, it was very solidly built. In form
it resembled the Irish round towers, which
have puzzled people for so long, nobody be-
ing able to find out when, or by whom, or for
what purpose they were made; seemingly
for no use at all, like this tower. It was
circular, of very firm brickwork, with
neither doors nor windows, until near the
top, when you could perceive some slits in
the wall through which one might possibly
creep in or look out. Its height was nearly
a hundred feet, and it had a battlemented
parapet, showing sharp against the sky.

As the plain was quite desolate — almost
like a desert, only without sand, and led to
nowhere except the still more desolate sea-
coast — nobody ever crossed it. Whatever
mystery there was about the tower, it and
the sky and the plain kept their secret to
themselves.

The Little Lame Prince.

It was a very great secret indeed — a state
secret — which none but so clever a man as
the present King of Nomansland would
ever have thought of. How he carried it
out, undiscovered, I can not tell. People
said, long afterward, that it was by means
of a gang of condemned criminals, who
were set to work, and executed immediately
after they had done, so that nobody knew
anything, or in the least suspected the real
fact.

And what was the fact? Why, that this
tower, which seemed a mere mass of ma-
sonry, utterly forsaken and uninhabited,
was not so at all. Within twenty feet
of the top some ingenious architect had
planned a perfect little house, divided into
four rooms — as by drawing a cross within a
circle you will see might easily be done.
By making sky-lights, and a few slits in the
walls for windows, and raising a peaked

The Little Lame Prince.

roof which was hidden by the parapet, here
was a dwelling complete, eighty feet from
the ground, and as inaccessible as a rook's
nest on the top of a tree.

A charming place to live in! if you oiue
got up there, and never wanted to come
down again.

Inside — though nobody could have looked
inside except a bird, and hardly even a bird
new past that lonely tower — inside it was
furnished with all the comfort and elegance
imagi nable ; with lots of books and toys,
and every thing that the heart of a child
could desire. For its only inhabitant, ex-
cept a nurse, of course, was a poor solitary
child.

One winter night, when all the plain was
white with moonlight, there was seen cross-
ing it a great tall black horse, ridden by a
man also big and equally black, carrying
before him on the saddle a woman and a

" Carrying before him a woman and child."

(51)

The Little Lame Prince.

child. The woman — she had a sad, fierce
look, and no wonder, for she was a criminal
under sentence of death, but her sentence
had boon changed to almost as severe a
punishment. She was to inhabit the lonely
tower with the child, and was allowed to
live as long as the child lived — no longer.
This, in order that she might take the utmost
care of him ; for those who put him there
were equally afraid of his dying and of his
living. And yet he was only a little gentle
boy, with a sweet, sleepy smile — he had
been very tired with his long journey — and
clinging arms, which held tight to the man's
neck, for he was rather frightened, and the
face, black as it was, looked kindly at him.
And he was very helpless, with his poor,
small, shriveled legs, which could neither
stand nor run away — for the little forlorn
boy was Prince Dolor.

He had not been dead at all — or buried

The Little Lame Prince.

either. His grand funeral had been a mere
pretense: a wax figure having been put in
his place, while he himself was spirited
away under charge of these two, the con-
demned woman and the black man. The
latter was deaf and dumb, so could neither
tell nor repeat any thing.

"When they reached the foot of the tower,
there was light enough to see a huge chain
dangling from the parapet, but dangling
only half way. The deaf-mute took from
his saddle-wallet a sort of ladder, arranged
in pieces like a puzzle, fitted it together,
and lifted it up to meet the chain. Then
he mounted to the top of the tower, and
slung from it a sort of chair, in which the
woman and the child placed themselves and
were drawn up, never to come down again
as long as they lived. Leaving them there,
the man descended the ladder, took it to
pieces again and packed it in his pack,

The Little Lame Prince. 55

mounted the horse, and disappeared across
the plain.

Every month they used to watch for him,
appearing like a speck in the distance. lie
fastened his horse to the foot of the tower,
and climbed it, as before, laden with pro-

"His grand funeral had been a mere pretense."

visions and many other things. lie always
saw the Prince, so as to make sure that the
child was alive and well, and then went
away until the following month.

While his first childhood lasted, Prince
Dolor was happy enough. lie had every

The Little Lame Prince.

luxury that even a prince could need, and
the one thing wanting — love — never having
known, he did not miss. His nurse was
very kind to him, though she was a wicked
woman. But either she had not been quite
so wicked as people said, or she grew Letter
through being shut up continually with a
little innocent child, who was dependent
upon her for every comfort and pleasure of
his life.

It was not an unhappy life. There was
nobody to tease or ill-use him, and he was
never ill. lie played about from room to
room — there were four rooms, parlor,
kitchen, his nurse's bedroom, and his own;
learned to crawl like a fly, and to jump like
a frog, and to run about on all-fours almost
as fast as a puppy. In fact, he was very
much like a puppy or a kitten, as thought-
less and as merry — scarcely ever cross,
though sometimes a little weary.

u He mounted to the top of the tower."

(67)

The Little Lame Prince,

As he grew older, ho occasionally liked to
be quiet for a while, and then lie would sit
at the slits of windows — which were, how-
ever, much bigger than they looked from
the bottom of the tower — and watch the
sky above and the ground below, with the
storms sweeping over and the sunshine
coming and going, and the shadows of the
clouds running races across the blank plain.

By and by he began to learn lessons —
not that his nurse had been ordered to
teach him, but she did it partly to amuse
herself. She was not a stupid woman, and
Prince Dolor was by no means a stupid
boy; so they got on very well, and his con-
tinual entreaty, " What can I do ? what can
you find me to do ?" was stopped, at least
for an hour or two in the day.

It was a dull life, but he had never known
any other; anyhow, he remembered no
other, and he did not pity himself at all.

The Little Lame Prince.

Not for a long time, till he grew quite a
big little boy, and could read quite easily.
Then he suddenly took to books, which the
deaf-mute brought him from time to time —
books which, not being acquainted with the
literature of Nbmansland, I can not de-
scribe, but no doubt they were very inter-
esting; and they informed him of every
thing in the outside world, and filled him
with an intense longing to see it.

From this time a change came over the
boy. He began to look sad and thin, and
to shut himself up for hours without speak-
ing. For his nurse hardly spoke, and what-
ever questions he asked beyond their ordi-
nary daily life she never answered. She
had, indeed, been forbidden, on pain of
death, to tell him any thing about himself,
who he was, or what he might have been.
He knew he was Prince Dolor, because she
always addressed him as " My Prince," and

The Little Lame Prince.

"Your Royal Highness," but what :i prince
was ho had not the least idea. He had no
idea of any thing in the world, except what
he found in his books.

He sat one day surrounded by them, hav-
ing built them up round him like a little
castle wall. He had been reading them half
the day, but feeling all the while that to
read about things which you never can see is
like hearing about a beautiful dinner while
you are starving. For almost the first time
in his life he grew melancholy ; his hands
fell on his lap; he sat gazing out of the
window-slit upon the view outside — the
view he had looked at every day of his life,
and might look at for endless days more.

!N"ot a very cheerful view — -just the plain
and the sky — but he liked it. He used to
think, if he could only fly out of that win-
dow, up to the sky or down to the plain,
how nice it would be ! Perhaps when he

The Little Lame Prince.

died — his nurse had told him once in anger
that he would never leave the tower till he
died — he might be able to do this. Not
that he understood much what dying
meant, but it must be a change, and any
change seemed to him a blessing.

" And I wish I had somebody to tell me
all about it — about that and many other
things ; somebody that would be fond of me,
like my poor white kitten."

Here the tears came into his eyes, for the
boy's one friend, the one interest of his life,
had been a little white kitten, which the
deaf-mute, kindly smiling, once took out of
his pocket and gave him — the only living
creature Prince Dolor had ever seen. For
four weeks it was his constant plaything
and companion, till one moonlight night it
took a fancy for wandering, climbed onto
the parapet of the tower, dropped over and
disappeared. It was not killed, he hoped,

The Little Lame Prince.

for cats have nine lives; indeed, he al-
most fancied he saw it pick itself up and
scamper away ; but he never caught sight of
it more.

Oh, I want somebody — dreadfully, dreadfully I"

" Yes, I wish I had something better than
a kitten — a person, a real live person, who
would be fond of me and kind to me. Oh,
I want somebody — dreadfully, dreadfully!"

As he spoke, there sounded behind him

The Little Lame Prince.

a slight tap-tap-tap, as of a stick or a cane,
and twisting himself round, tie saw --what
do you think he saw ?

Nothing either frightening or ugly, but
still exceedingly curious. A little woman,
no bigger than he might himself have been
had his legs grown like those of other chil-
dren; but she was not a child — she was an
old woman. Her hair was gray, and her
dress was gray, and there was a gray shadow
over her wherever she moved. But she
had the sweetest smile, the prettiest hands,
and when she spoke it was in the softest
voice imaginable.

" My dear little boy" — and dropping her
cane, the only bright and rich thing about
her, she laid those two tiny hands on his
shoulders — " my own little boy, I could not
come to you until you had said you wanted
me ; but now you do want me, here I am."

" And you are very welcome, madam,"

The Little Lame Prince.

replied the Prince, trying to speak politely,
as princes always did in hooks; " and I am
exceedingly obliged to yon. May I ask
who you are ? Perhaps my mother ?" For

ilTW

«.•!■' ■„;,.

1:1 1

ti "Dropping her cane, she laid those two tiny hands on
his shoulders."

he knew that little boys usually had a mo-

S^jjf ther, and had occasionally wondered what

had become of his own.

"No," said the visitor, with a tender,
5

The Little Lame Prince.

half-sad smile, putting back the hair from
his forehead, and looking right into his
eyes — " No, I am not your mother, though
she was a dear friend of mine ; and you are
as like her as ever you c<*.: be."

"Will you tell her to come and see me,
then ?"

" She can not; but I dare say she knows
about you. And she loves you very much
— and so do I ; and I want to help you all I
can, my poor little boy."

"Why do you call me poor?" asked
Prince Dolor, in surprise.

The little old woman glanced down on
his legs and feet, which he did not know
were different from those of other children,
and then at his sweet, bright face, which,
though he knew not that either, was ex-
ceedingly different from many children's
faces, which are often so fretful, cross, sul-
len. Looking at him, instead of sighing,

The Little Lame Prince.

she smiled. " I beg your pardon, my
Prince," said she.

" Yes, I am a prince, and my name is
Dolor ; will you tell me yours, madam ?"

The little old woman laughed like a
chime of silver hells.

" I have not got a name — or, rather, I
have so many names that I don't know
which to choose. However, it was I who
gave you yours, and you will belong to me
all your days. I am your godmother."

"Hurrah!" cried the little Prince; "I
am glad I belong to you, for I like you
very much. Will you come and play with
me?"

So they sat down together and played.
By and by they began to talk.

" Are you very dull here ?" asked the
little old woman.

"Not particularly, thank you, godmother.
I have plenty to eat and drink, and my les-

The Little Lame Prince.

sons to do, and my books to read — lots of
books."

" And you want nothing ?"

"Nothing. Yes — perhaps — If you
please, godmother, could you bring me just
one more thing ?"

" What sort of thing ?"

" A little boy to play with."

The old woman looked very sad. " Just
the thing, alas, which I can not give you.
My child, I can not alter your lot in any
way, but I can help you to bear it."

" Thank you. But why do you talk of
bearing it? I have nothing to bear."

" My poor little man !" said the old
woman, in the very tenderest tone of her
tender voice. " Kiss me !"

" What is kissing ?" asked the wondering
child.

His godmother took him in her arms and
embraced him many times. By and by he

The Little Lame Prince.

kissed her back again — at first awkwardly
and shyly, then with all the strength of his
warm little heart,

" You arc better to cuddle than even my
white kitten, I think. Promise me that
you will never go away."

" I must; but I will leave a present be-
hind me — something as good as myself to
amuse you — something that will take you
wherever you want to go, and show you all
that you wish to see."

« What is it ?"

" A traveling-cloak."

The Prince's countenance fell. " I don't
want a cloak, for I never go out. Some-
times nurse hoists me onto the roof, and
carries me round by the parapet; but that
is all. I can't walk, you know, as she does."

" The more reason why you should ride ;
and besides, this travelings V>ak — "

" Hush ! — she's coming."

The Little Lame Prince.

There sounded outside the room door a
heavy step and a grumpy voice, and a rattle
of plates and dishes.

" It's my nurse, and she is bringing my
dinner ; but I don't want dinner at all — I
only want you. Will her coming drive you
away, godmother ?"

" Perhaps ; but only for a little while.
Never mind ; all the bolts and bars in the
world couldn't keep me out. Pd fly in at
the window, or down through the chimney.
Only wish for me, and I come."

" Thank you," said Prince Dolor, but
almost in a whisper, for he was very uneasy
at what might happen next. His nurse and
his godmother — what would they say to one
another ? how would they look at one an-
other ? — two such different faces : one harsh-
lined, sullen, cross, and sad ; the other
sweet and bright and calm as a summer
evenino- before the dark begins.

The Little Lame Trince.

When the door was flung open, Prince
Dolor shut his eyes, trembling nil over;
opening them again, he saw he need fear
nothing — his lovely old godmother had

"' What a muddle your Royal Highness is sitting in,'
said she, sharply."

melted away just like the rainbow out of
the sky, as he had watched it many a time.
Nobody but his nurse was in the room.

" What a muddle your Royal Highness
is sitting in," said she, sharply. "Such a

The Little Lame Prince.

heap of untidy books ; and what's this rub-
bish?" knocking a little bundle that lay
beside them.

" Oh, nothing, nothing — give it me !"
cried the Prince, and, darting after it, he
hid it under his pinafore, and then pushed
it quickly into his pocket. Rubbish as it
was, it was left in the place where she sat,
and might be something belonging to her —
his dear, kind godmother, whom already he
loved with all his lonely, tender, passionate
heart.

It was, though he did not know this, his
wonderful traveling-cloak.

The Little Lame Prince.

CHAPTER IV.

And what of the traveling-cloak ? What
sort of cloak was it, and what good did it do
the Prince ?

Stay, and I'll tell yon all abont it.

Outside it was the commonest-looking
bundle imaginable — shabby and small ; and
the instant Prince Dolor touched it, it grew
smaller still, dwindling down till he could
put it in his trousers pocket, like a hand-
kerchief rolled up into a ball. He did this
at once, for fear his nurse should see it, and
kept it there all day — all night, too. Till
after his next morning's lessons he had no
opportunity of examining his treasure.

When he did, it seemed no treasure at
all; but a mere piece of cloth — circular in
form, dark green in color — that is, if it had

The Little Lame Prince.

any color at all, being so worn and shabby,
though not dirty. It had a split cut to the
centre, forming a round hole for the neck —
and that was all its shape; the shape, in
fact, of those cloaks which in South Amer-
ica are called ponchos — very simple, but
most graceful and convenient.

Prince Dolor had never seen any thing
like it. In spite of his disappointment, he
examined it curiously ; spread it out on the
floor, then arranged it on his shoulders. It
felt very warm and comfortable; but it was so
exceedingly shabby — the only shabby thing
that the Prince had ever seen in his life.

" And what use will it be to me ?" said
he, sadly. " I have no need of outdoor
clothes, as I never go out. Why was this
given me, I wonder ? and what in the world
am I to do with it? She must be a rather
funny person, this dear godmother of
mine."

The Little Lame Prince.

Nevertheless, because she was his god-
mother, and had given him the cloak, he
folded it carefully and put it away, poor
and shahby as it was, hiding it in a safe eor-
ner of his toy-cupboard, which his nurse
never meddled with. lie did not want her to
find it, or to laugh at it or at his godmother
— as he felt sure she would if she knew all.

There it lay, and by and by he forgot all
about it; nay, I am sorr.y to say that, being
but a child, and not seeing her again, he
almost forgot his sweet old godmother, or
thought of her only as he did of the angels
or fairies that he read of in his books, and
of her visit as if it had been a mere dream
of the night.

There were times, certainly, when he re-
called her : of early mornings, like that
morning when she appeared beside him,
and late evenings, when the gray twilight
reminded him of the color of her hair and

The Little Lame Prince.

her pretty soft garments ; above all, when,
waking in the middle of the night, with the
stars peering in at his window, or the
moonlight shining across his little bed, he
would not have been surprised to see her
standing beside it, looking at him with
those beautiful tender eyes, which seemed
to have a pleasantness and comfort in them
different from any thing he had ever
known.

But she never came, and gradually she
slipped out of his memory — only a boy's
memory, after all ; until something hap-
pened which made him remember her, and
want her as he had never wanted any thing
before.

Prince Dolor fell ill. He caught — his
nurse could not tell how — a complaint com-
mon to the people of Nomansland, called
the doldrums, as unpleasant as measles or
any other of our complaints ; and it made

The Little Lame Prince.

him restless, cross, and disagreeable. Even
when a little better, he was too weak to en-
joy any thing, but lay all day long on his
sola, fidgeting his nurse extremely — while,
in her intense terror lest he might die, she
fidgeted him still more. At last, seeing he
really was getting well, she left him to him-
self— which he was most glad of, in spite
of his dullness and dreariness. There he
lay, alone, quite alone.

Now and then an irritable fit came over
him, in which he longed to get up and do
something, or go somewhere — would have
liked to imitate his white kitten — jump
down from the tower and run away, taking
the chance of whatever might happen.

Only one thing, alas! was likely to
happen; for the kitten, he remembered,
had four active legs, while he —

" I wonder what my godmother meant
when she looked at my legs and sighed so

The Little Lame Prince.

bitterly? I wonder why I can't walk straight
and steady like my nurse — only I wouldn't
like to have her great, noisy, clumping
shoes. Still it would be very nice to move
about quickly — perhaps to fly, like a bird,
like that string of birds I saw the other day
skimming across the sky, one after the
other."

These were the passage-birds — the only
living creatures that ever crossed the lonely
plain ; and he had been much interested in
them, wondering whence they came and
whither they were going.

" How nice it must be to be a bird ! If
legs are no good, why can not one have
wings ? People have wings when they die
— perhaps; I wish I were dead, that I do.
I am so tired, so tired; and nobody cares
for me. Nobody ever did care for me, ex-
cept perhaps my godmother. Godmother,
dear, have you quite forsaken me ?"

The Little Lame Prince.

lie stretched himself wearily, gathered
himself up, and dropped his Lead upon his
hands; as lie did so, he felt somebody kiss
him at the hack of his neck, and, turning,
found that lie was resting, not on the sofa-
pillows, but on a warm shoulder — that of
the little old woman clothed in gray.

How glad he was to see her ! How he
looked into her kind eyes and felt her hands,
to sec if she were all real and alive ! then put
both his arms round her neck, and kissed
her as if he would never have done kissing.

" Stop, stop !" cried she, pretending to be
smothered. " I see you have not forgotten
my teachings. Kissing is a good thing — in
moderation. Only just let me have breath
to speak one wrord."

"A dozen!" he said.

" Well, then, tell me all that has happened
to you since I saw you — or, rather, since you
saw me, which is quite a different thing."

The Little Lame Prince.

" Nothing has happened — nothing ever
does happen to me," answered the Prince,
dolefully.

" And are you very dull, my boy ?"

" So dull that I was just thinking whether
I could not jump down to the bottom of the
tower, like my white kitten."

" Don't do that, not being a white kitten."

" I wish I were ! — I wish I wore any thing
but what I am."

" And you can't make yourself any differ-
ent, nor can I do it either. You must be
content to stay just what you are."

The little old woman said this — very
firmly, but gently, too — with her arms round
his neck and her lips on his forehead. It
was the first time the boy had ever heard
any one talk like this, and he looked up in
surprise — but not in pain, for her sweet
manner softened the hardness of her words.

'" Now, my Prince — for you are a prince,

The Little Lame Prince.

and must behave as such — let us see what
we can do ; how much I can do for yon, or
show you how to do for yourself. Where is
your traveling-cloak ?"

Prince Dolor blushed extremely. " I — I
put it away in the cupboard ; I suppose it is
there still."

"You have never used it; you dislike
it?"

He hesitated, not wishing to be impolite.
" Don't you think it's — just a little old and
shabby for a prince?"

The old woman laughed — long and loud,
though very sweetly.

" Prince, indeed ! Why, if all the princes
in the world craved for it, they couldn't get
it, unless I gave it them. Old and shabby [
It's the most valuable thing imaginable !
Very few ever have it; but I thought I
would give it to you, because — because you
are different from other people."

The Little Lame Prince.

" Am I ?" said the Prince, and looked
first with curiosity, then with a sort of
anxiety, into his godmother's face, which
was sad and grave, with slow tears begin-
ning to steal down.

She touched his poor little legs. " These
are not like those of other little boys."

" Indeed ! — my nurse never told me that."

"Very likely not. But it is time you
were told; and I tell you, because I love
you."

" Tell me what, dear godmother?"

" That you will never be able to walk or
run or jump or play — that your life will be
quite different to most people's lives ; but it
may be a very happy life for all that. Do
not be afraid."

"I am not afraid," said the boy; but he
turned very pale, and his lips began to
quiver, though he did not actually cry — he
was too old for that, and, perhaps, too proud.

The Little Lame Prince.

Though not wholly comprehending, lie
began dimly to guess what his godmother
meant. He had never seen any real live
boys, but he had seen pictures of them run-
ning and jumping; which he had admired
and tried hard to imitate, but always failed.
Now he began to understand why he failed,
and that he always should fail — that, in
fact, he was not like other little boys ; and
it was of no use his wishing to do as they
did, and play as they played, even if he had
them to play with. His was a separate life,
in which he must find out new work and
new pleasures for himself.

The sense of the inevitable., as grown-up
people call it — that we can not have things
as we want them to be, but as they are, and
that we must learn to bear them and make
the best of them — this lesson, which every
body has to learn soon or late — came, alas!
sadly soon, to the poor b"oy. He fought

The Little Lame Prince.

against it for a while, and then, quite over-
come, turned and sobbed bitterly in his
godmother's arms.

She comforted him — I do not know how,
except that love always comforts; and then
she whispered to him, in her sweet, strong,
cheerful voice — "Never mind!"

" No, I don't think I do mind — that is, I
won't mind," replied he, catching the courage
of her tone and speaking like a man, though
he was still such a mere boy.

" That is right, my Prince ! — that is being
like a prince. Now we know exactly where
we are; let us put our shoulders to the
wheel and — "

" We are in Hopeless Tower" (this was
its name, if it had a name), " and there is
no wheel to put our shoulders to," said the
child, sadly.

" You little matter-of-fact goose ! Well
for you that you have a godmother called — "

The Little Lame Prince.

" What ?" he eagerly asked.

" Stuft-and-nonsense."

" Stuff-and-nonsense ! What a funny
name !"

"Some people give it me, but they are
not my most intimate friends. These call
me — never mind what," added the old
woman, with a soft twinkle in her eyes.
" So as you know me, and know me well,
you may give me any name you please ; it
doesn't matter. But I am your godmother,
child. I have few godchildren; those I
have love me dearly, and find me the great-
est blessing in all the world."

"I can well believe it," cried the little
lame Prince, and forgot his troubles in look-
ing at her — as her figure dilated, her eyes
grew lustrous as stars, her very raiment
brightened, and the whole room seemed
filled with her beautiful and beneficent
presence like light.

The Little Lame Prince.

He could have looked at her forever
— half in love, half in awe; but she sud-
denly dwindled down into the little old
woman all in gray, and, with a malicious
twinkle in her eyes, asked for the traveling-
cloak.

" Bring it out of the rubbish cupboard,
and shake the dust off it, quick!" said she
to Prince Dolor, who hung his head, rather
ashamed. " Spread it out on the floor, and
wait till the split closes and the edges turn
up like a rim all round. Then go and open
the sky-light — mind, I say open the sky-light
— set yourself down in the middle of it, like
a frog on a water-lily leaf; say ' Abraca-
dabra, dum dum dum,' and — see what will
happen !"

The Prince burst into a fit of laughing.
It all seemed so exceedingly silly ; he won-
dered that a wise old woman like his god-
mother should talk such nonsense.

The Little Lame Prince.

" Stuff-and-nonsense, you mean," said she,
answering, to his great alarm, his unspoken
thoughts. " Did I not tell you some people
called me by that name ? Never mind ; it
doesn't harm me."

And she laughed — her merry laugh —
as childlike as if she were the Prince's age
instead of her own, whatever that might be.
She certainly was a most extraordinary old
woman.

" Believe me or not, it doesn't matter,"
said she. " Here is the cloak : when you
want to go traveling on it, say Abracadabra,
dum dam dum ; when you want to come back
again, say Abracadabra, turn turn ti. That's
all; good-by."

A puff of pleasant air passing by him, and
making him feel for the moment quite
strong and well, was all the Prince was con-
scious of. His most extraordinary god-
mother was gone.

The Little Lame Prince.

" Really now, how rosy your Royal High-
ness's cheeks have grown ! You seem to
have got well already," said the nurse, en-
tering the room.

" I think I have," replied the Prince, very
gently — he felt gently and kindly even to
his grim nurse. " And now let me have
my dinner, and go you to your sewing as
usual."

The instant she was gone, however, tak-
ing with her the plates and dishes, which
for the first time since his illness he had
satisfactorily cleared, Prince Dolor sprang
down from his sofa, and with one or two of
his frog-like jumps, not graceful, but con-
venient, he reached the cupboard where he
kept his toys, and looked everywhere for his
traveling-cloak.

Alas ! it was not there.

While he was ill of the doldrums, his
nurse, thinking it a good opportunity for

The Little Lame Prince.

putting things to rights, had made a grand
clearance of all his " rubbish " — as she con-
sidered it: his beloved headless horses,
broken carts, sheep without feet, and birds
without wings — all the treasures of his baby
days, Avhich he could not bear to part with.
Though he seldom played with them now,
he liked just to feel they were there.

They were all gone ! and with them the
traveling-cloak. He sat down on the floor,
looking at the empty shelves, so beautifully
clean and tidy, then burst out sobbing as if
his heart would break.

But quietly — always quietly. He never
let his nurse hear him cry. She only
laughed at him, as he felt she would laugh
now.

" And it is all my own fault," he cried.
" I ought to have taken better care of my
godmother's gift. Oh, godmother, forgive
me ! I'll never be so careless again. I

The Little Lame Prince.

don't know what the cloak is exactly, but I
am sure it is something precious. Help me
to find it again. Oh, don't let it be stolen
from me — don't, please !"

" Ha, ha, ha !" laughed a silvery voice.
" Why, that traveling-cloak is the one thing
in the world which nobody can steal. It is
of no use to any body except the owner.
Open your eyes, my Prince, and see what
you shall see."

His dear old godmother, he thought, and
turned eagerly round. But no; he only
beheld, lying in a corner of the room, all
dust and cobwebs, his precious traveling-
cloak.

Prince Dolor darted toward it, tumbling
several times on the way, as he often did
tumble, poor boy ! and pick himself up
again, never complaining. Snatching it to
his breast, he hugged and kissed it, cobwebs
and all, as if it had been something alive.

The Little Lame Prince.

CHAPTER V.

If any reader, big or little, should wonder
whether there is a meaning in this story
deeper than that of an ordinary fairy tale, I
will own that there is. But I have hidden
it so carefully that the smaller people, and
many larger folk, will never find it out, and
meantime the book may be read straight
on, like " Cinderella," or " Blue-Beard," or
" Hop-o'-my Thumb," for what interest it
has, or what amusement it may bring.

Having said this, I return to Prince Dolor,
that little lame boy whom many may think
so exceedingly to be pitied. But if you had
seen him as he sat patiently untying his
wonderful cloak, which was done up in a
very tight and perplexing parcel, using
skillfully his deft little hands, and knitting

The Little Lame Prince.

hia brows with firm determination, while
his eyes glistened with pleasure and energy
and eager anticipation — if you had beheld
him thus, you might have changed your
opinion.

When avc see people suffering or unfor-
tunate, we feel very sorry for them ; but
when we see them bravely bearing their
sufferings, and making the best of their mis-
fortunes, it is quite a different feeling. "We
respect, we admire them. One can respect
and admire even a little child.

When Prince Dolor had patiently untied
all the knots, a remarkable thing happened.
The cloak began to undo itself. Slowly un-
folding, it laid itself down on the carpet, as
flat as if it had been ironed ; the split joined
with a little sharp crick-crack, and the rim
turned up all round till it was breast-high ;
for meantime the cloak had grown and
grown, and become quite large enough for

The Little Lame Prince.

one person to sit in it as comfortable as if
in a boat.

The Prince watched it rather anxiously;
it was such an extraordinary, not to say a
frightening thing. However, he was no
coward, but a thorough boy, who, if he had
been like other boys, would doubtless have
grown up daring and adventurous — a sol-
dier, a sailor, or the like. As it was, he
could only show his courage morally, not
physically, by being afraid of nothing, and
by doing boldly all that it was in his narrow
powers to do. And I am not sure but that
in this way he showed more real valor than
if he had had six pairs of proper legs.

He said to himself, " What a goose I
am ! As if my dear godmother would ever
have given me anything to hurt me. Here
goes!"

So, with one of his active leaps, he sprang
right into the middle of the cloak, where he

The Little Lame Prince.

squatted down, wrapping his arms tight
round his knees, for they shook a little and

his heart heat fast. But there he sat, steady
and silent, waiting for what might happen
next.

Nothing did happen, and he began to
think nothing would, and to feel rather dis-
appointed, when he recollected the words
he had been told to repeat — " Abracadabra,
dum dum dum !"

He repeated them, laughing all the while,
they seemed such nonsense. And then —
and then —

Now I don't expect any body to believe
what I am going to relate, though a good
many wise people have believed a good
many sillier things. And as seeing's believ-
ing, and I never saw it, I can not be ex-
pected implicitly to believe it myself, except
in a sort of a way; and yet there is truth in
it — for some people.

The Little Lame Prince.

The cloak rose, slowly and steadily, at
first only a few inches, then gradually higher
and higher, till it nearly touched the sky-
light. Prince Dolor's head actually bumped
against the glass, or would have done so
had he not crouched down, crying, "Oh,
please don't hurt me!" in a most melancholy
voice.

Then he suddenly remembered his god-
mother's express command — " Open the sky-
light!"

Regaining his courage at once, without a
moment's delay he lifted up his head and
began searching for the bolt — the cloak
meanwhile remaining perfectly still, bal-
anced in the air. But the minute the win-
dow was opened, out it sailed — right out into
the clear, fresh air, with nothing between
it and the cloudless blue.

Prince Dolor had never felt any such
delicious sensation before. I can under-

" The cloak rose slowly and steadily."

(97)

The Little Lame Prince.

stand it. Can not yon ? Did you never
think, in watching the rooks going home
singly or in pairs, oaring their way across
the calm evening sky till they vanish like
black dots in the misty gray, how pleasant
it must feel to be up there, quite out of the
noise and din of the world, able to hear and
see every thing down below, yet troubled
by nothing and teased by no one — all alone,
bur perfectly content ?

Something like this was the happiness of
the little lame Trince when he got out of
Hopeless Tower, and found himself for the
first time in the pure open air, with the sky
above him and the earth below.

True, there was nothing but earth and
sky; no houses, no trees, no rivers, moun-
tains, seas — not a beast on the ground, or a
bird in the air. But to him even the level
plain looked beautiful ; and then there was
the glorious arch of the sky, with a little

100

The Little Lame Prince.

young moon sitting in the west like a baby
queen. And the evening breeze was so
sweet and fresh — it kissed him like his god-
mother's kisses ; and by and by a few stars
came out — first two or three, and then quan-
tities— quantities ! so that when he began
to count them he was utterly bewildered.

By this time, however, the cool breeze
had become cold; the mist gathered; and
as he had, as he said, no outdoor clothes,
poor Prince Dolor was not very comfortable.
The dews fell damp on his curls — he began
to shiver.

" Perhaps I had better go home," thought
he.

But how ? For in his excitement the
other words which his godmother had told
him to use had slipped his memory. They
were only a little different from the first,
but in that slight difference all the impor-
tance lay. As he repeated his " Abraca-

The Little Lame Prince.

101

dabra," trying ever so many other syllables
after it, the cloak only went faster and faster,
skimming on through the dusky, empty air.

The poor little Prince began to feel
frightened. "What if this wonderful travel-
ing-cloak should keep on thus traveling,
perhaps to the world's end, carrying with it
a poor, tired, hungry boy, who, after all,
was beginning to think there was something
very pleasant in supper and bed ?

" Dear godmother," he cried pitifully,
"do help me ! Tell me just this once and
I'll never forget again."

Instantly the words came rushing into
his head — "Abracadabra, turn turn ti!"
"Was that it ? Ah ! yes — for the cloak be-
gan to turn slowly. He repeated the charm
again, more distinctly and firmly, when it
gave a gentle dip, like a nod of satisfaction,
and immediately started back, as fast as
ever, in the direction of the tower.

102

The Little Lame Prince.

He reached the sky-light, which he found
exactly as he had left it, and slipped in,
cloak and all, as easily as he had got out.
He had scarcely reached the floor, and
was still sitting in the middle of his travel-
ing-cloak— like a frog on a water-lily leaf, as
his godmother had expressed it — when he
heard his nurse's voice outside.

" Bless us ! what has become of your
Royal Highness all this time ? To sit stu-
pidly here at the window till it is quite
dark, and leave the sky-light open, too.
Prince ! what can you be thinking of?
You are the silliest boy I ever knew."

" Am I ?" said he, absently, and never
heeding her crossness ; for his only anxiety
was lest she might find out any thing.

She would have been a very clev per-
son to have done so. The instant Prince
Dolor got ofi" it, the cloak folded itself up
into the tiniest possible parcel, tied all its

The Little Lame Prince.

103

own knots, and rolled itself of its own ac-
cord into the farthest and darkest corner of
the room. If the nurse had seen it, which
she didn't, she would have taken it for a
mere bundle of rubbish not worth noticing.

Shutting the sky-light with an angry
bang, she brought in the supper and lit the
candles with her usual unhappy expression
of countenance. But Prince Dolor hardly
saw it ; he only saw, hid in the corner where
nobody else could see it, his wonderful
traveling-cloak. And though his supper
was not particularly nice, he ate it heartily,
scarcely hearing a word of his nurse's
grumbling, which to-night seemed to have
taken the place of her sullen silence.

" Poor woman !" he thought, when he
paused a minute to listen and look at her
with those quiet, happy eyes, so like his
mother's. " Poor woman ! she hasn't got a
traveling-cloak!"

104

The Little Lame Prince.

And when he was left alone at last, and
crept into his little bed, where he lay awake
a good while, watching what he called his
" sky-garden," all planted with stars, like
flowers, his chief thought was—" I must
be up very early to-morrow morning, and
get my lessons done, and then I'll go
traveling all over the world on my beautiful
cloak."

So next day he opened his eyes with the
sun, and went with a good heart to his les-
sons. They had hitherto been the chief
amusement of his dull life; now, I am
afraid, he found them also a little dull.
But he tried to be good — I don't say Prince
Dolor always was good, but he generally
tried to be — and when his mind went wan-
dering after the dark, dusty corner where
lay his precious treasure he resolutely called
it back again.

" For," he said, " how ashamed my god-

The Little Lame Prince.

105

mother would be of me if I grew up a stupid
boy."

But the instant lessons were done, and
he was alone in the empty room, he crept
across the floor, undid the shabby little
bundle, his fingers trembling with eager-
ness, climbed on the chair, and thence to
the table, so as to unbar the sky-light — he
forgot nothing now — said his magic charm,
and was away out of the window, as chil-
dren say, " in a few minutes les£ than no
time."

Nobody missed him. He was accustomed
to sit so quietly always that his nurse, though
only in the next room, perceived no differ-
ence. And besides, she might have gone
in and out a dozen times, and it would have
been just the same ; she never could have
found out his absence.

For what do you think the clever god-
mother did ? She took a quantity of moon-

106

The Little Lame Prince.

shine, or some equally convenient material,
and made an image, which she set on the
window-sill reading, or by the table draw-
ing:, where it looked so like Prince Dolor
that any common observer would never
have guessed the deception ; and even the
boy would have been puzzled to know
which was the image and which was him-
self.

And all this while the happy little fellow
was away, floating in the air on his magic
cloak, and seeing all sorts of wonderful
things — or they seemed wonderful to him,
who had hitherto seen nothing at all.

First, there were the flowers that grew
on the plain, which, whenever the cloak
came near enough, he strained his eyes to
look at; they were very tiny, but very beau-
tiful— white saxifrage, and yellow lotus,
and ground-thistles, purple and bright, with
many others the names of which I do not

The Little Lame Prince.

107

know. No more did Prince Dolor, though
he tried to find them out by recalling any
pictures he had seen of them. But he was
too far oil"; and though it was pleasant
enough to admire them as brilliant patches
of color, still he would have liked to examine
them all. lie was, as a little girl I know once
said of a playfellow, " a very examining hoy."

" I wonder," he thought, " whether I
could see better through a pair of glasses
like those my nurse reads with, and takes
such care of. How I would take care of
them, too, if I only had a pair!"

Immediately he felt something queer and
hard fixing itself to the bridge of his nose.
It was a pair of the prettiest gold spectacles
ever seen; and looking downward, he
found that, though ever so high above the
ground, he could see every minute blade of
grass, every tiny bud and flower — nay, even
the insects that walked over them.

Is >'f

108

The Little Lame Prince.

" Thank you, thank you !" he cried, in a
gush of gratitude — to any body or every
body, but especially to his dear godmother,
whom he felt sure had given him this new
present. He amused himself with it for
ever so long, with his chin pressed on the
rim of the cloak, gazing down upon the
grass, every square foot of which was a mine
of wonders.

Then, just to rest his eyes, he turned
them up to the sky — the blue, bright, empty
sky, which he had looked at so often and
seen nothing.

Now surely there was something. A
long, black, wavy line, moving on in the
distance, not by chance, as the clouds move
apparently, but deliberately, as if it were
alive. He might have seen it before — he
almost thought he had; but then he could
not tell what it was. Looking at it through
his spectacles, he discovered that it really

<!&?<£

The Little Lame Prince.

109

was alive ; being a long string of birds, fly-
ing one after the other, their winirs moving
steadily and their heads pointed in one di-

"He felt something queer and hard fixing itself to the
bridge of his nose."

rection, as steadily as if each were a little

ship, guided invisibly by an unerring helm.

" They must be the passage-birds flying

seaward!" cried the boy, who had read a

110

The Little Lame Prince.

little about them, and had a great talent for
putting two and two together and finding
out all he could. " Oh, how I should like
to see them quite close, and to know where
they come from, and whither they are going!
How I wish I knew every thing in all the
world!"

A silly speech for even an " examining "
little boy to make; because, as we grow
older, the more we know the more we find
out there is to know. And Prince Dolor
blushed when he had said it, and hoped
nobody had heard him.

Apparently somebody had, however; for
the cloak gave a sudden bound forward, and
presently he found himself high up in air,
in the very middle of that band of aerial
travelers, who had no magic cloak to travel
on — nothing except their wings. Yet there
they were, making their fearless way through
the sky.

The Little Lame Prince.

Ill

Prince Dolor looked at them, as one after
the other they glided past him; and they
looked at him — those pretty swallows, with
their changing necks and bright eyes — as
if wondering to meet in mid-air such an
extraordinary sort of bird.

" Oh, I wish I were going with you, yon
lovely creatures !" cried the boy. " I'm
getting so tired of tins dull plain, and the
dreary and lonely tower. I do so want to
see the world ! Pretty swallows, dear swal-
lows ! tell me what it looks like — the beauti-
ful, wonderful world!"

But the swallows flew past him — steadily,
slowly, pursuing their course as if inside
each little head had been a mariner's com-
pass, to guide them safe over land and sea,
direct to the place where they desired to go.

The boy looked after them with envy.
For a long time he followed with his eyes
the faint, wavy, black line as it floated away,

112

The Little Lame Prince.

sometimes changing its curves a little, but
never deviating from its settled course, till
it vanished entirely out of sight.

Then he settled himself down in the
centre of the cloak, feeling quite sad and
lonely.

"I think I'll go home," said he, and
repeated his "Abracadabra, turn turn ti!"
with a rather heavy heart. The more he
had, the more he wanted; and it is not
always one can have every thing one wants
— at least, at the exact minute one craves
for it; not even though one is a prince, and
has a powerful and beneficent godmother.

He did not like to vex her by calling for
her and telling her how unhappy he was,
in spite of all her goodness ; so he just kept
his trouble to himself,, went back to his
lonely tower, and spent three days in silent
melancholy, without even attempting another
journey on his traveling-cloak.

"A'ty

The Little Lame Prince.

113

CHAPTER VI.

The fourth day it happened that the deaf-
mute paid his accustomed visit, after which
Prince Dolor's spirits rose. They always
did when he got the new books which, just to
relieve his conscience, the King of No man s-
land regularly sent to his nephew; with
many new toys also, though the latter were
disregarded now.

" Toys, indeed ! when I'm a big boy,"
said the Prince, with disdain, and would
scarcely condescend to mount a rocking-
horse which had come, somehow or other —
I can't be expected to explain things very
exactly — packed on the back of the other,
the great black horse, which stood and fed
contentedly at the bottom of the tower.

Prince Dolor leaned over and looked

114

The Little Lame Prince.

at it, and thought how grand it must be to
get upon its back — this grand live steed —
and ride away, like the pictures of knights.

" Suppose I was a knight," he said to
himself; " then I should be obliged to ride
out and see the world."

But he kept all these thoughts to him-
self, and just sat still, devouring his new
books till he had come to the end of them
all. It was a repast not unlike the Barme-
cide's feast which you read of in the " Ara-
bian Nights," which consisted of very elegant
but empty dishes, or that supper of Sancho
Panza in " Don Quixote," where, the minute
the smoking dishes came on the table, the
physician waved his hand and they were all
taken away.

Thus almost all the ordinary delights of
boy-life had been taken away from, or rather
never given to, this poor little Prince.

" I wonder," he would sometimes think —

The Little Lame Prince.

11!

"I wonder what it feels like to l»e on the
hack of a horse, galloping away, or holding
the reins in a carriage, and tearing across
^T the country, or jumping a ditch, or running

/>/'!.

vt,;

"r* '

$] "A rocking-horse had come, packed on the hack of the
other."

a race, such as I read of or see in pictures.
?%. What a lot of things there are that I should

like to do ! But first I should like to go
fhi and see the world. I'll try."

Apparently it was his godmother's plan

116

The Little Lame Prince.

always to let him try, and try hard, before
lie gained any thing. This day the knots
that tied up his traveling-cloak were more
than usually troublesome, and he was a full
half-hour before he got out into the open
air, and found himself floating merrily over
the top of the tower.

Hitherto, in all his journeys, he had never
let himself go out of sight of home, for
the dreary building, after all, was home
— he remembered no other; but now he
felt sick of the very look of his tower,
with its round smooth walls and level
battlements.

" Off we go !" cried he, when the cloak
stirred itself with a slight, slow motion, as
if waiting his orders. " Any where — any
where, so that I am away from here, and
out into the world."

As he spoke, the cloak, as if seized sud-
denly with a new idea, bounded forward

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117

and went skimming through the air, faster
than the very fastest railway train.

" Gee-up, gee-up !" cried Prince Dolor, in
great excitement. " This is us good as
riding a race."

And he patted the cloak as if it had been
a horse — that is, in the way he supposed
horses ought to be patted — and tossed his
head hack to meet the fresh breeze, and
pulled his coat-collar up and his hat down,
as he felt the wind grow keener and colder
— colder than any thing he had ever
known.

" What does it matter though ?" said he.
" I'm a boy, and boys ought not to mind
any thing."

Still, for all his good-will, by and by he
began to shiver exceedingly; also, he had
come away without his dinner, and he grew
frightfully hungry. And to add to every
thing, the sunshiny day changed into rain,

118

The Little Lame Prince.

and being high up, in the very midst of the
clouds, he got soaked through and through
in a very few minutes.

" Shall I turn back ?" meditated he.
" Suppose I say '-Abracadabra ?' "

Here he stopped, for already the cloak
gave an obedient lurch, as if it were expect-
ing to be sent home immediately.

" No — I can't — I can't go back ! I must
go forward and see the world ! But oh ! if
I had but the shabbiest old rug to shelter
me from the rain, or the driest morsel of
bread and cheese, just to keep me from
starving ! Still, I don't much mind ; I'm a
prince, and ought to be able to stand any
thing. Hold on, cloak, we'll make the best
of it."

It was a most curious circumstance, but
no sooner had he said this than he felt steal-
ing over his knees something warm and
soft; in fact, a most beautiful bearskin,

The Little Lame Prince.

119

which folded itself round him quite natu-
rally, and cuddled him up as closely as if
he had been the cub of the kind old mother-
bear that once owned it. Then feeling in
his pocket, which suddenly stuck out in a
marvelous way, he found, not exactly bread
and cheese, nor even sandwiches, but a
packet of the most delicious food he had
ever tasted. It was not meat, nor pudding,
but a combination of both, and it served
him excellently for both. He ate his din-
ner with the greatest gusto imaginable, till
he grew so thirsty he did not know what to
do.

" Couldn't I have just one drop of water,
if it didn't trouble you too much, kindest
of godmothers?"

For he really thought this want was be-
yond her power to supply. All the water
which supplied Hopeless Tower was pumped
up with difficulty from a deep artesian well

120

The Little Lame Prince.

— there were such things known in ISTo-
mansland — which had been made at the foot
of it. But around, for miles upon miles,
the desolate plain was perfectly dry. And
above it, high in air, how could he expect
to find a well, or to get even a drop of
water ?

lie forgot one thing — the rain. While he
spoke, it came on in another wild burst, as
if the clouds had poured themselves out in a
passion of crying, wetting him certainly,
but leaving behind, in a large glass vessel
which he had never noticed before, enough
water to quench the thirst of two or three
boys at least. And it was so fresh, so pure
— as water from the clouds always is when
it does not catch the Soot from city chim-
neys and other defilements — that he drank
it, every drop, with the greatest delight and
content.

Also, as soon as it was empty the rain

The Little Lame Prince.

121

filled it again, bo that he was able to wash
his face and hands and refresh himself ex-
ceedingly. Then the sun came out and
dried him in no time. After that he curled
himself up under the bearskin rug, and
though he determined to he the most wide-
awake hoy imaginable, being so exceed-
ingly snug and warm and comfortable,
Prince Dolor condescended to shut his
eyes, just for one minute. The next min-
ute he was sound asleep.

"When he awoke, he found himself fioat-
ing over a country quite unlike any thing
he had ever seen before.

Yet it was nothing but what most of you
children see every day and never notice it
— a pretty country landscape, like England,
Scotland, France, or any other land you
choose to name. It had no particular feat-
ures — nothing in it grand or lovely — was
simply pretty, nothing more ; yet to Prince

122

The Little Lame Prince

Dolor, who had never gone beyond his
lonely tower and level plain, it appeared the
most charming sight imaginable.

First, there was a river. It came tumbling
down the hill-side, frothing and foaming,
playing at hide-and-seek among the rocks,
then bursting out in noisy fun like a child,
to bury itself in deep, still pools. After-
ward it went steadily on for a while, like a
good grown-up person, till it came to an-
other big rock, where it misbehaved itself
extremely. It turned into a cataract, and
went tumbling over and over, after a fash-
ion that made the Prince — who had never
seen water before, except in his bath or his
drinking-cup — clap his hands with delight.

" It is so active, so alive ! I like things
active and alive !" cried he, and watched it
shimmering and dancing, whirling and leap-
ing, till, after a few windings and vagaries,
it settled into a respectable stream. After

The Little Lame Prince.

123

that it went along, deep and quiet ,but flowing
steadily on, till it reached a large lake, into
which it slipped, and so ended its course.

All this the boy saw, either with his own
naked eye or through his gold spectacles.
lie saw also, as in a picture, beautiful but
silent, many other things which struck him
with wonder, especially a grove of trees.

Only think, to have lived to his age
(which he himself did not know, as he did
not know his own birthday) and never to
have seen trees ! As he floated over these
oaks, they seemed to him — trunk, branches,
and leaves — the most curious sight imagin-
able.

" If I could only get nearer, so as to
touch them," said he, and immediately the
obedient cloak ducked down ; Prince Dolor
made a snatch at the topmost twig of the
tallest tree, and caught a bunch of leaves in
his hand.

124

The Little Lame Prince.

Just a bunch of green leaves — such as we
see in myriads ; watching them bud, grow,
fall, and then kicking them along on the
ground as if they were worth nothing.
Yet, how wonderful they are — every one
of them a little different. I don't suppose
you could ever find two leaves exactly alike
in form, color, and size — no more than
you could find two faces alike, or two char-
acters exactly the same. The plan of this
world is infinite similarity and yet infinite
variety.

Prince Dolor examined his leaves with
the greatest curiosity — and also a little
caterpillar that he found walking over one
of them. He coaxed it to take an additional
walk over his finger, which it did with the
greatest dignity and decorum, as if it, Mr.
Caterpillar, were the most important indi-
vidual in existence. It amused him for a
long time ; and when a sudden gust of wind

The Little Lame Prince.

125

blew it overboard, leaves and all, be felt
quite disconsolate.

" Still there must be many live creatures
in the world besides caterpillars. I should
like to see a few of them."

" Prince Dolor made a snatch at the topmost twig of the
tallest tree."

The cloak gave a little dip down, as if to
say " All right, my Prince," and bore him
across the oak forest to a long fertile valley
— called in Scotland a strath, and in Eng-

126

The Little Lame Prince.

land a weald, but what they call it in the
tongue of Nomansland I do not know. It
was made up of corn-fields, pasture-fields,
lanes, hedges, brooks, and ponds. Also,
in it were what the Prince desired to see —
a quantity of living creatures, wild and
tame. Cows and horses, lambs and sheep,
fed in the meadows ; pigs and fowls walked
about the farm-yards; and, in lonelier
places, hares scudded, rabbits burrowed, and
pheasants and partridges, with many other
smaller birds, inhabited the fields and woods.

Through his wonderful spectacles the
Prince could see every thing ; but, as I said,
it was a silent picture ; he was too high up
to catch any thing except a faint murmur,
which only aroused his anxiety to hear
more.

" I have as good as two pair of eyes,"
he thought. " I wonder if my godmother
would give me a second pair of ears."

The Little Lame Prince.

127

Scarcely had he spoken than he found
lying on his lap the most curious little par-
cel, all done up in silvery paper. And it
contained — what do you think ? Actually
a pair of silver ears, which, when he tried
them on, fitted so exactly over his own that
he hardly felt them, except for the differ-
ence they made in his hearing.

There is something which we listen to
daily and never notice. I mean the sounds
of the visible world, animate and inanimate.
Winds blowing, waters flowing, trees stir-
ring, insects whirring (dear me ! I am quite
unconsciously writing rhyme), with the va-
rious cries of birds and beasts — lowing cat-
tle, bleating sheep, grunting pigs, and cack-
ling hens — all the infinite discords that
somehow or other make a beautiful har-
mony.

We hear this, and are so accustomed to it
that we think nothing of it; but Prince

128

The Little Lame Prince.

Dolor, who had lived all his days in the
dead silence of Hopeless Tower, heard it for
the first time. And oh ! if you had seen his
face.

He listened, listened, as if he could never
have done listening. And he looked and
looked, as if he could not gaze enough.
Above all, the motion of the animals de-
lighted him ; cows walking, horses gallop-
ing, little lambs and calves running races
across the meadows, were such a treat for
him to watch — he that was always so quiet.
But, these creatures having four legs, and
he only two, the difference did not strike
him painfully.

Still, by and by, after the fashion of chil-
dren— and, I fear, of many big people too —
he began to want something more than he
had, something that would be quite fresh
and new.

" Godmother," he said, having now begun

The Little Lame Prince.

129

to believe that, whether he saw her or not,
he could always speak to her with full con-
fidence that she would hear him — " God-
mother, all these creatures I like exceed-
ingly; hut I should like hotter to see a
creature like myself. Couldn't you show
me just one little boy ?"

There was a sigh behind him — it might
have been only the wind — and the cloak re-
mained so long balanced motionless in air
that he was half afraid his godmother had
forgotten him, or was offended with him for
asking too much. Suddenly a shrill whistle
startled him, even through his silver ears,
and looking downward, he saw start up
from behind a bush on a common, some-
thing—

Neither a sheep nor a horse nor a cow —
nothing upon four legs. This creature had
only two ; but they were long, straight, and
strong. And it had a lithe, active body,

130

The Little Lame Prince.

and a curly head of black hair set upon its
shoulders. It was a boy, a shepherd-boy,
about the Prince's own age — but oh ! so dif-
ferent.

Not that he was an ugly boy — though his
face wasralmost as red as his hands, and his
shaggy hair matted like the backs of his
own sheep. He was rather a nice-looking
lad ; and seemed so bright and healthy
and good-tempered — "jolly " would be the
word, only I am not sure if they have such
a one in the elegant language of Nbmans-
land — that the little Prince watched him
with great admiration.

" Might he come and play with me ? I
would drop down to the ground to him, or
fetch him up to me here. Oh, how nice it
would be if I only had a little boy to play
with me !"

But the cloak, usually so obedient to his
wishes, disobeyed him now. There were

"It was a boy, a shepherd-boy."

( 131 )

The Little Lame Prince.

133

evidently some things which his godmo-
ther either could not or would not give.
The cloak hung stationary, high in air,
never attempting to descend. The shepherd-
lad evidently took it for a large bird, and,
shading his eyes, looked up at it, making
the Prince's heart beat fast.

However, nothing ensued. The boy
turned round, with a long, loud whistle —
seemingly his usual and only way of ex-
pressing his feelings. He could not make
the thing out exactly — it was a rather mys-
terious affair, but it did not trouble him
much — he was not an " examining " boy.

Then, stretching himself, for he had been
evidently half asleep, he began flopping his
shoulders with his arms, to wake and warm
himself; while his dog, a rough collie, who
had been guarding the sheep meanwhile,
began to jump upon him, barking with de-
light.

134

The Little Lame Prince.

" Down, Snap, down ! Stop that, or I'll
thrash you," the Prince heard him say;
though with such a rough, hard voice and
queer pronunciation that it was difficult to
make the words out. " Hollo ! Let's warm
ourselves by a race."

They started off together, boy and dog —
barking and shouting, till it was doubtful
which made the most noise or ran the fast-
est. A regular steeple-chase it was : first
across the level common, greatly disturbing
the quiet sheep; and then tearing away
across country, scrambling through hedges,
and leaping ditches, and tumbling up and
down over plowed fields. They did not
seem to have any thing to run for — but as
if they did it, both of them, for the mere
pleasure of motion.

And what a pleasure that seemed ! To
the dog of course, but scarcely less so to the
boy. How he skimmed along over the

The Little Lame Prince.

135

ground — liis cheeks glowing, and his hair
Hying, and his logs — oh, what a pair of legs
he had!

Prince Dolor watched him with great in-
tentness, and in a state of excitement almost
equal to that of the runner himself — for a
while. Then the sweet, pale face grew a
trifle paler, the lips began to quiver, and the
eyes to till.

"How nice it must be to run like that!"
he said softly, thinking that never — no,
never in this world — would he be able to
do the same.

Now he understood what his godmother
had meant when she gave him his traveling-
cloak, and why he had heard that sigh — he
was sure it was hers — when he had asked
to see "just one little boy."

" I think I had rather not look at him
again," said the poor little Trince, drawing
himself back into the centre of his cloak,

136

The Little Lame Prince.

and resuming his favorite posture, sitting
like a Turk, with his arms wrapped round
his feeble, useless legs.

" You're no good to me," he said, patting
them mournfully. " You never will be any
good to me. I wonder why I had you at
all ; I wonder why I was born at all, since I
was not to grow up like other little boys.
Why not ?"

A question so strange, so sad, yet so often
occurring in some form or other in this
world — -as you will find, my children, when
you are older — that even if he had put it to
his mother she could only have answered
it, as we have to answer many as difficult
things, by simply saying, " I don't know."
There is much that we do not know, and
can not understand — we big folks no more
than you little ones. We have to accept it
all just as you have to accept any thing
which your parents may tell you, even

The Little Lame Prince.

137

though you don't as yet see the reason of it.
You may some time, if you do exactly as
they tell you, and are content to wait.

Prince Dolor sat a good while thus, or it
appeared to him a good while, so many
thoughts came and went through his poor
young mind — thoughts of great bitterness,
which, little though he was, seemed to make
him grow years older in a few minutes.

Then he fancied the cloak began to rock
gently to and fro, with a soothing kind of
motion, as if ho were in somebody's arms :
somebody who did not speak, but loved him
and comforted him without need of words;
not by deceiving him with false encourage-
ment or hope, but by making him see the
plain, hard truth in all its hardness, and
thus letting him quietly face it, till it grew
softened down, and did. not seem nearly so
dreadful after all.

Through the dreary silence and blank-

138 The Little Lame Prince.

ness, for he had placed himself so that he
could see nothing but the sky, and had
taken oft' his silver ears as well as his gold
spectacles — what was the use of either when
he had no legs with which to walk or run?
— up from below there rose a delicious
sound.

You have heard it hundreds of times, my
children, and so have I. When I was a
child I thought there was nothing so sweet;
and I think so still. It was iust the sons'
of a skylark, mounting higher and higher
from the ground, till it came so close that
Prince Dolor could distinguish his quiver-
ing wings and tiny body, almost too tiny to
contain such a gush of music.

" Oh, you beautiful, beautiful bird !" cried
he ; " I should dearly like to take you in
and cuddle you. That is, if I could — if I
dared."

But he hesitated. The little brown creat-

or
£522

The Little Lame Prince.

130

ure with its loud heavenly voice almost made
him afraid. Nevertheless it also made him
happy; and he watched and listened — so
absorbed that he forgot all regret and pain,
forgot every thing in the world except the
little lark.

It soared and soared, and he was just
wondering if it would soar out of sight, and
what in the world he should do when it was
gone, when it suddenly closed its wings, as
larks do when they mean to drop to the
ground. But, instead of dropping to the
ground, it dropped right into the little boy's
breast.

What felicity ! If it would only stay ! A
tiny, soft thing to fondle and kiss, to sing
to him all day long, and be his playfellow
and companion, tame and tender, while to
the rest of the world it was a wild bird of
the air. What a pride, what a delight ! To
have something that nobody else had — some-

140

The Little Lame Prince.

thing all his own. As the traveling-cloak
traveled on, he little heeded where, and the
lark still stayed, nestled down in his bosom,
hopped from his hand to his shoulder, and
kissed him with its dainty beak, as if it
loved him, Prince Dolor forgot all his grief,
and was entirely happy.

But when he got in sight of Hopeless
Tower a painful thought struck him.

" My pretty bird, what am I to do with
you ? If I take you into my room and shut
you up there, you, a wild skylark of the air,
what will become of you ? I am used to
this, but you are not. You will be so
miserable; and suppose my nurse should
find you — she who can't bear the sound of
singing ? Besides, I remember her once
telling me that the nicest thing she ever ate
in her life was lark pie !"

The little boy shivered all over at the
thought. And though the merry lark im-

The Little Lame Prince.

141

mediately broke into the loudest carol, as
if saying derisively that he defied any body
to eat him, still Prince Dolor was very un-
easy. In another minute he had made up
his mind.

" ISTo, my bird, nothing so dreadful shall
happen to you if I can help it; I would
rather do without you altogether. Yes, I'll
try. Fly away, my darling, my beautiful !
Good-by, my merry, merry bird."

Opening his two caressing hands, in
which, as if for protection, he had folded it
he let the lark go. It lingered a minute,
perching on the rim of the cloak, and look-
ing at him with eyes of almost human ten-
derness ; then away it flew, far up into the
blue sky. It was only a bird.

But some time after, when Prince Dolor
had eaten his supper — somewhat drearily,
except for the thought that he could not
possibly sup off lark pie now — and gone

142

The Little Lame Prince.

quietly to bed, the old familiar little bed,
where he was accustomed to sleep, or lie
awake contentedly thinking — suddenly he
heard outside the window a little faint carol
— faint but cheerful — cheerful, even though
it was the middle of the night.

The dear little lark ! it had not flown
away after all. And it was truly the most
extraordinary bird, for, unlike ordinary
larks, it kept hovering about the tower in
the silence and darkness of the night, out-
side the window or over the roof. When-
ever he listened for a moment, he heard it
singing still.

He went to sleep as happy as a king.

The Little Laine Prince.

143

CHAPTER VII.

" Happy as a king." How far kingb are
happy I cannot say, no more than could
Prince Dolor, though he had once been a
king himself. But he remembered nothing
about it, and there was nobody to tell him,
except his nurse, who had been forbidden
upon pain of death to let him know any thing
about his dead parents, or the king his
uncle, or indeed any part of his own history.

Sometimes he speculated about himself,
whether he had had a father and mother as
other little boys had, what they had been
like, and why he had never seen them.
But, knowing nothing about them, he did
not miss them — only once or twice, reading
pretty stories about little children and their
mothers, who helped them when they were

144

The Little Lame Prince.

in difficulty, and comforted them when they
were sick, he, feeling ill and dull and lonely,
wondered what had become of his mother,
and why she never came to see him.

Then, in his history lessons, of course he
read about kings and princes, and the gov-
ernments of different countries, and the
events that happened there. And though
he but faintly took in all this, still he did
take it in a little, and worried his young
brain about it, and perplexed his nurse with
questions, to which she returned sharp and
mysterious answers, which only set him
thinking the more.

He had plenty of time for thinking.
After his last journey in the traveling-cloak,
the journey which had given him so much
pain, his desire to see the world had some-
how faded away. lie contented himself
with reading his books, and looking out of
the tower windows, and listenine; to his be-

The Little Lame Prince.

14^

loved little lark, which had come home
with him that day, and never left him again.

True, it kept out of the way ; and though
his nurse sometimes dimly heard it, and
said, " What is that horrid noise outside V
she never got the faintest chance of making
in into a lark pie. Prince Dolor had his
pet all to himself, and though he seldom
saw it, he knew it was near him, and he
caught continually, at odd hours of the day,
and even in the night, fragments of its de-
licious song.

All during the winter — so far as there
ever was any difference between summer
and winter in Hopeless Tower — the little
bird cheered and amused him. He scarcely
needed any thing more — not even his travel-
ing-cloak, which lay bundled up unnoticed
in a corner, tied up in its innumerable knots.
ISTor did his godmother come near him. It

seemed as if she had given these treasures
10

146

The Little Lame Prince.

and left him alone — to use them or lose
them , apply them or misapply them , according
to his own choice. That is all we can do with
children when they grow into big children old
enough to distinguish between right and
wrong, and too old to be forced to do either.

Prince Dolor was now quite a big boy.
Not tall — alas ! he never could be that, with
his poor little shrunken legs, which were of
no use, only an encumbrance. But he was
stout and strong, with great sturdy shoul-
ders, and muscular arms, upon which ho
could swing himself about almost like a
monkey. As if in compensation for his
useless lower limbs, Nature had given to
these extra strength and activity. His face,
too, was very handsome ; thinner, firmer,
more manly ; but still the sweet face of his*
childhood — his mother's own face.

How his mother would have liked to look
at him ! Perhaps she did — who knows ?

The Little Lame Prince.

147

The boy was not a stupid hoy, cither. He
could learn almost any thing he chose — and
he did choose, which was more than half
the battle. lie never gave up his lessons
till he had learned them all — never thought
it a punishment that he had to work at
them, and that they cost him a deal of
trouble sometimes.

" But," thought he, " men work, and it
must be so grand to be a man — a prince,
too; audi fancy princes work harder than
any body — except kings. The princes I
read about generally turn into kings. I
wonder" — the boy was always wondering
— " Nurse " — and one day he startled her
with a sudden question — " tell me — shall I
ever be a king ?"

The woman stood, perplexed beyond ex-
pression. So long a time had passed by
since her crime — if it were a crime — and
her sentence, that she now seldom thought

148

The Little Lame Prince.

of either. Even her punishment — to be
shut up for life in Hopeless Tower — she had
gradually got used to. Used also to the
little lame Prince, her charge — whom at
first she had hated, though she carefully did
every thing to keep him alive, since upon
him her own life hung. But latterly she
had ceased to hate him, and, in a sort of
way, almost loved him — at least, enough to
be sorry for him — an innocent child, im-
prisoned here till he grew into an old man,
and became a dull, worn-out creature like
herself. Sometimes, watching him, she felt
more sorry for him than even for herself;
and then, seeing she looked a less miserable
and ugly woman, he did not shrink from
her as usual.

He did not now. " Nurse — dear nurse,"
said he, " I don't mean to vex you, but tell
me — what is a king ? shall I ever be one ?-"

When she began to think less of herself

The Little Lame Prince.

149

and more of the child, the woman's courage
increased. The idea came to her — what
harm would it be, even if he did know his
own history ? Perhaps he ought to know
it — for there had been various ups and
downs, usurpations, revolutions, and restora-
tions in Nbmansland, as in most other coun-
tries. Something might happen — who could
tell ? Changes might occur. Possibly a
crown would even yet bo set upon those
pretty, fair curls — which she began to think
prettier than ever when she saw the imagi-
nary coronet upon them.

She sat down, considering whether her
oath, never to " say a word " to Prince
Dolor about himself, would be broken if she
were to take a pencil and write what was
to be told. A mere quibble — a mean, mis-
erable quibble. But then she was a miser-
able woman, more to be pitied than scorned.

After long doubt, and with great trepida-

150

The Little Lame Prince.

tion, she put her finger to her lips, and
taking the Prince's slate — with the sponge
tied to it, ready to rub out the writing in a
minute — she wrote —

" You arc a king."

Prince Dolor started. His face grew
pale, and then flushed all over; his eyes
glistened ; he held himself erect. Lame as
he was, any body could see he was born to
be a king.

" Hush !" said his nurse, as he was begin-
ning to speak. And then, terribly fright-
ened all the while — people who have done
wrong always are frightened — she wrote
down In a few hurried sentences his history.
How his parents had died — his uncle had
usurped his throne, and sent him to end his
days in this lonely tower.

" I, too," added she, bursting into tears.
" Unless, indeed, you could get out into the
world, and fight for your rights like a man.

The Little Lame Prince.

151

And fight for me also, my Prince, that I
may not die in this desolate place."

"Poor old nurse!" said the boy, compas-
sionately. For somehow, boy as he was,

"Taking the Prince's slate, she wrote, 'You are a
king.' "

when he heard he was born to be a king1, he
felt like a man — like a king — who could
afford to be tender because he was strong.

lie scarcely slept that night, and even
though he heard his little lark singing in

152

The Little Lame Prince.

the sunrise, he barely listened to it. Things
more serious and important had taken pos-
session of his mind.

" Suppose," thought he, " I were to do as
she says and go out into the world, no mat-
ter how it hurts me — the world of peoples-
active people, as active as that boy I saw.
They might only laugh at me — poor help-
less creature that I am ; but still I might
show them I could do something. At any
rate, I might go and see if there were
any thing for me to do. . Godmother, help
me!"

It was so long since he had asked her
help that he was hardly surprised when he
got no answer — only the little lark outside
the window sang louder and louder, and the
sun rose, flooding the room with light.

Frincc Dolor sprang out of bed, and be-
gan dressing himself, which was hard work,
for he was not used to it— he had always

The Little Lame Prince.

153

been accustomed to depend upon his nurse
for every thing.

"But I must now learn to be independ-
ent," thought he. " Faney a king being
dressed like a baby !"

So he did the best he could — awkwardly
but cheerily — and then he leaped to the
corner where lay his traveling-eloak, untied
it as before, and watched it unrolling itself
— which it did rapidly, with a hearty good-
will, as if quite tired of idleness. So was
Prince Dolor — or felt as if he were. lie
jumped into the middle of it, said his charm,
and was out through the sky-light imme-
diately.

" Good-by, pretty lark!" he shouted, as
he passed it on the wing, still warbling its
carol to the newly risen sun. " You have
been my pleasure, my delight; now I must
go and work. Siug to old nurse till I come
back again. Perhaps she'll hear you — per-

154

The Little Lame Prince.

haps she won't — but it will do her good all
the same. Good-by!"

But, as the cloak hung irresolute in air,
he suddenly remembered that he had not
determined where to go — indeed, he did not
know, and there was nobody to tell him.

" Godmother," he cried, in much per-
plexity, " you know what I want — at least,
I hope you do, for I hardly do myself — take
me where I ought to go; show me what-
ever I ought to see — never mind what I like
to see," as a sudden idea came into his mind
that he might see many painful and dis-
agreeable things. But this journey was not
for pleasure — as before. He was not a baby
now, to do nothing but play — big boys do
not always play. Nor men neither — they
work. Thus much Prince Dolor knew —
though very little more. And as the cloak
started off, traveling faster than he had ever
known it to do — through sky-land and

The Little Lame Prince.

cloud-land, over freezing mountain-tops, and
desolate stretches of forest, and smiling cul-
tivated plains, and great lakes that seemed
to him almost as shoreless as the sea —
he was often rather frightened. But he
crouched down, silent and quiet; what was
the use of making a fuss? and, wrapping
himself up in his hearskin, waited for what
was to happen.

After some time he heard a murmur in
the distance, increasing more and more till
it grew like the hum of a gigantic hive of
bees. And, stretching his chin over the
rim of his cloak, Prince Dolor saw — far, far
below him, yet, with his gold spectacles and
silver ears on, he could distinctly hear and
see — What ?

Most of us have some time or other visited
a great metropolis — have wandered through
its net-work of streets — lost ourselves in its
crowds of people — looked up at its tall rows

156

The Little Lame Prince.

,of houses, its grand public buildings,
churches, and squares. Also, perhaps, we
have peeped into its miserable little back
alleys, where dirty children play in gutters
all day and half the night — or where men
reel tipsy and women fight — where even
young boys go about picking pockets, with
nobody to tell them it is wrong except the
policeman, and he simply takes them off to
prison. And all this wretchedness is close
behind the grandeur — like the two sides of
the leaf of a book.

An awful sight is a large city, seen any
how, from any where. But, suppose you
were to see it from the upper air, where,
with your eyes and ears open, you could
take in every thing at once ? What would
it look like ? How would you feel about
it ? I hardly know myself. Do you ?

Prince Dolor had need to be a king — that
is, a boy with a Tangly nature — to be able

The Little Lame Prince.

157

to stand such a sight without being utterly
overcome. But he was very much bewil-
dered— as bewildered as a blind person who
is suddenly made to see.

lie gazed down on the city below him,
and then put his hand over his eyes.

" I can't bear to look at it, it is so beauti-
ful— so dreadful. And I don't understand
it — not one bit. There is nobody to tell me
about it. I wish I had somebody to speak
to."

" Do you ? Then pray speak to me. I
was always considered good at conversa-
tion."

The voice that squeaked out this reply
was an excellent imitation of the human
one, though it came only from a bird. No
lark this time, however, but a great black
and white creature that flew into the cloak,
and began walking round and round on the
edge of it with a dignified stride, one foot

158

The Little Lame Prince.

before the other, like any unfeatherccl biped
you could name.

"I haven't the honor of your acquaint-
ance, sir," said the boy politely.

"Ma'am, if you please. I am a mother-
bird, and my name is Mag, and I shall be
happy to tell you every thing you want to
know. For I know a great deal; and I
enjoy talking. My family is of great an-
tiquity ; we have built in this palace for hun-
dreds— that is to say, dozens of years. I
am intimately acquainted with the King,
the Queen, and the little princes and prin-
cesses— also the maids of honor, and all the
inhabitants of the city. I talk a good deal,
but I always talk sense, and I dare say I
should be exceedingly useful to a poor lit-
tle ignorant boy like you."

" I am a prince," said the other gently.

" All right. And I am a magpie. You
will find me a most respectable bird."

160

The Little Lame Prince.

all. One half the people seemed so happy
and busy — hurrying up and down the full
streets, or driving lazily along the parks in
their grand carriages, while the other half
were so wretched and miserable.

" Can't the world be made a little more
level ? I would try to do it if I were the
king."

"But you're not the king; only a little
goose of a boy," returned the Magpie loftily.
" And I'm here not to explain things, only
to show them. Shall I show you the royal
palace?"

It was a very magnificent palace. It had
terraces and gardens, battlements and tow-
ers. It extended over acres of ground, and
had in it rooms enough to accommodate
half the city. Its windows looked in all
directions, but none of *them had any par-
ticular view — except a small one, high up
toward the roof, which looked onto the

The Little Lame Prince.

101

Beautiful Mountains. But since the Queen
f^L died there it had been closed, hoarded up,
indeed, the Magpie said. It was so little
and inconvenient that nobody cared to live
in it. Besides, the lower apartments, which
had no view, were magnificent — worthy of
being inhabited by his Majesty the King.

" I should like to see the King," said
Prince Dolor.

But what followed was so important that
I must take another chapter to tell it in.

162

The Little Lame Prince.

&**

CHAPTER VIII.

"What, I wonder, would be most people's
idea of a king ? What was Prince Dolor's ?
Perhaps a very splendid personage, with a
crown on his head and a sceptre in his
hand, sitting on a throne and judging the
people. Always doing right, and never
wrong — " The king can do no wrong " was
a law laid down in olden times. Never
cross or tired or sick or suffering; per-
fectly handsome and well-dressed, calm and
good-tempered, ready to see and hear every
body, and discourteous to nobody ; all things
always going well with him, and nothing
unpleasant ever happening.

This, probably, was what Prince Dolor
expected to see. And what did he see?
But I must tell you how he saw it.

The Little Lame Prince.

163

"Ah," said the Magpie, "no levee to-
day. The King is ill, though his Majesty
does not wish it to be generally known — it
would be so very inconvenient. He can't
see you, but perhaps you might like to go
and take a look at him in a way I often do ?
It is so very amusing."

Amusing, indeed I

The Prince was just now too much ex-
cited to talk much. Was he not o;oing to
see the King his uncle, who had succeeded
his father and dethroned himself; had
stepped into all the pleasant things that he,
Prince Dolor, ought to have had, and shut
him up in a desolate tower? What was he
like, this great, bad, clever man ? Had he
got all the things he wanted, which another
ought to have had ? And did he enjoy
them ?

" Nobody knows," answered the Magpie,
just as if she had been sitting inside the

164

The Little Lame Prince.

Prince's heart, instead of on the top of his
shoulder. " He is a king, and that's enough.
For the rest, nobody knows."

As she spoke, Mag flew down onto the
palace roof, where the cloak had rested, set-
tling down between the great stacks of
chimneys as comfortably as if on the ground.
She pecked at the tiles with her beak —
truly she was a wonderful bird — and imme-
diately a little hole opened, a sort of door,
through which could be seen distinctly the
chamber below.

" Now look in, my Prince. Make haste,
for I must soon shut it up again."

But the boy hesitated. " Isn't it rude ?
— won't they think us intruding ?"

" Oh dear no ! there's a hole like this
in every palace ; dozens of holes, indeed.
Every body knows it, but nobody speaks of
it. Intrusion ! Why, though the royal
family are supposed to live shut up behind

The Little Lame Prince.

105

stone walls ever so tliick, all the world
knows that they live in a glass house where
every body can see them and throw a stone
at them. Now, pop down on your knees,
and take a peep at his Majesty !"

His Majesty !

The Prince gazed eagerly down into a
large room, the largest room he had ever
beheld, with furniture and hangings
grander than any thing he conld have ever
imagined. A stray sunbeam, coming
through a crevice of the darkened win-
dows, struck across the carpet, and it was
the loveliest carpet ever woven — just like a
bed of flowers to walk over; only nobody
walked over it, the room being perfectly
empty and silent.

" Where is the King ?" asked the puzzled
boy.

" There," said Mag, pointing with one
wrinkled claw to a magnificent bed, large

166

The Little Lame Prince.

enough to contain six people. In the centre
of it, just visible under the silken counter-
pane— quite straight and still — with its
head on the lace pillow, lay a small hgure,
something like wax-work, fast asleep — very-
fast asleep ! There was a number of spark-
ling rings on the tiny yellow hands, that
were curled a little, helplessly, like a baby's,
outside the coverlet ; the eyes were shut,
the nose looked sharp and thin, and the
long gray beard hid the mouth and lay over
the breast. A sight not ugly nor frighten-
ing, only solemn and quiet. And so very
silent — two little flies buzzing about the
curtains of the bed making the only audible
sound.

" Is that the King ?" whispered Prince
Dolor.

" Yes," replied the bird.

He had been angry — furiously angry —
ever since he knew how his uncle had taken

168

The Little Lame Prince.

" What is the matter with him ?" asked
the Prince again.

" He is dead," said the Magpie, with a
croak.

"No, there was not the least use in being
angry with him now. On the contrary, the
Prince felt almost sorry for him, except that
he looked so peaceful, with all his cares at
rest. And this wTas being dead ? So even
kings died?

" Well, well, he hadn't an easy life, folk
say, for all his grandeur. Perhaps he is
glad it is over. Good-by, your Majesty."

With another cheerful tap of her beak,
Mistress Mag shut down the little door in
the tiles, and Prince Dolor's first and last
sight of his uncle was ended.

He sat in the centre of his traveling-cloak,
silent and thoughtful.

" What shall we do now ?" said the Mag-
pie. " There's nothing much more to be

The Little Lame Prince.

169

done with his Majesty, except a fine funeral,
which I shall certainly go and see. All the
world will. He interested the world ex-
ceedingly when he was alive, and he ought
to do it now he's dead — just once more.
And since he can't hear me, I may as well
say that, on the whole, his Majesty is much
better dead than alive — if we can only get
some body in his place. There'll be such a
row in the city presently. Suppose we float
up again, and see it all — at a safe distance,
though. It will be such fun."
■ « What will be fun ?"

" A revolution."

Whether any body except a magpie would
have called it " fun " I don't know, but it
certainly was a remarkable scene.

As soon as the cathedral bell began to
toll and the minute guns to fire, announcing
to the kingdom that it was without a kinc;
the people gathered in crowds, stopping at

170

The Little Lame Prince.

street corners to talk together. The mur-
mur now and then rose into a shout, and
the shout into a roar. When Prince Dolor,
quietly floating in upper air, caught the
sound of their different and opposite cries,
it seemed to him as if the whole city had
gone mad together.

"Long live the King!" "The King is
dead — down with the King !" " Down with
the crown, and the King, too!" "Hurrah
for the Republic!" "Hurrah for no gov-
ernment at all !"

Such were the shouts which traveled up
to the traveling-cloak. And then began —
oh, what a scene !

When you children are grown men and
women — or before — you will hear and read
in books about what are called revolutions
— earnestly I trust that neither I nor you
may ever see one. But they have hap-
pened, and may happen again, in other

The Little Lame Prince.

171

countries besides Nbmansland, when wicked
kings have helped to make their people
wicked too, or out of an unrighteous nation
have sprung rulers equally bad; or, without
cither of these causes, when a restless coun-
try has fancied any change better than no
change at all.

For me, I don't like changes, unless pretty
sure that they are for good. And how good
can come out of absolute evil — the horrible
evil that went on this night under Prince
Dolor's very eyes — soldiers shooting people
down by hundreds in the streets, scaffolds
erected, and heads dropping off — houses
burned, and women and children mur-
dered— this is more than I can under-
stand.

But all these things you will find in his-
tory, my children, and must by and by
judge for yourselves the right and wrong
of them, as far as any body ever can judge.

172

The Little Lame Prince.

Prince Dolor saw it all. Things hap-
pened so fast one after another that they
quite confused his faculties.

" Oh, let me go home," he cried at last,
stopping his ears and shutting his eyes;
" only let me go home !" for even his lonely
tower seemed home, and its dreariness and
silence absolute paradise after all this.

" Good-by, then," said the Magpie, flap-
ping her wings. She had been chatting in-
cessantly all day and all night, for it was ac-
tually thus long that Prince Dolor had been
hovering over the city, neither eating nor
sleeping, with all these terrible things hap-
pening under his very eyes. " You've had
enough, I suppose, of seeing the world?"

" Oh, I have — I have !" cried the Prince,
with a shudder.

" That is, till next time. All right, your
Royal Highness. You don't know me, but I
know you. We may meet again some time."

The Little Lame Prince.

173

She looked at him with her clear, pierc-
ing eyes, sharp enough to see through every
thing, and it seemed as if they changed
from bird's eyes to human eyes — the very
eyes of his godmother, whom he had not
seen for ever so long. But the minute
afterward she became only a bird, and with
a screech and a chatter, spread her wings
and flew away.

Prince Dolor fell into a kind of swoon,
of utter misery, bewilderment, and ex-
haustion, and when he awoke he found
himself in his own room — alone and quiet
— with the dawn just breaking, and the
long rim of yellow light in the horizon
glimmering through the window-panes.

174

The Little Lame Prince.

CHAPTER IX.

When Prince Dolor sat up in bed, trying
to remember where he was, whither he had
been, and what he had seen the day before,
he perceived that his room was empty.

Generally his nurse rather worried him
by breaking his slumbers, coming in and
" setting things to rights," as she called it
Now the dust lay thick upon chairs and
tables; there was no harsh voice heard to
scold him for not getting up immediately —
which, I am sorry to say, this boy did not al-
ways do. For he so enjoyed lying still, and
thinking lazily about every thing or nothing,
that, if he had not tried hard against it, he
would certainly have become like those
celebrated

"Two little men
Who lay in their bed till the clock struck ten."

The Little Lame Prince

175

It was striking ten now, and still no nurse
was to be seen. lie was rather relieved at
first, for he felt so tired ; and besides, when
he stretched out his arm, he found to his
dismay that he had gone to bed in his
clothes.

Very uncomfortable lie felt, of course;
and just a little frightened. Especially when
he began to call and call again, but nobody
answered. Often lie used to think how nice
it would be to get rid of his nurse and live
in this tower all by himself — like a sort
of monarch, able to do every thing he
liked, and leave undone all that he did
not want to do ; but now that this seemed
really to have happened, he did not like it
at all.

" Nurse — dear nurse — please come back !"
he called out. " Come back, and I will be
the best boy in all the land."

And when she did not come back, and

176

The Little Lame Prince.

nothing but silence answered his lamentable
call, he very nearly began to cry.

" This won't do," he said at last, clashing
the tears from his eyes. " It's just like a
baby, and I'm a big boy — shall be a man
some day. What has happened, I wonder ?
I'll go* and see."

He sprang out of bed — not to his feet,
alas ! but to his poor little weak knees, and
crawled on them from room to room. All
the four chambers were deserted — not for-
lorn or untidy, for every thing seemed to
have been done for his comfort — the break-
fast and dinner things were laid, the food
spread in order. He might live " like a
prince," as the proverb is, for several days.
But the place was entirely forsaken — there
was evidently not a creature but himself in
the solitary tower.

A great fear came upon the poor boy.
Lonely as his life had been, he had never

The Little Lame Prince.

177

known what it was to be absolutely alone.
A kind of despair seized him — no violent
anger or terror, but a sort el' patient desola-
tion.

" What in the world am I to do ?" thought
he, and sat down in the middle of the floor,
half inclined to believe that it would be
better to give up entirely, lay himself down,
and die.

This feeling, however, did not last long,
for he was young and strong, and, I said
before, by nature a very courageous boy.
There came into his head, somehow or other,
a proverb that his nurse had taught him —
the people of Nomansland were very fond
of proverbs —

" For every evil under the sun
There is a remedy, or there's none ;
If there is one, try to find it —
If there isn't, never mind it."

"I wonder is there a remedy now, and
12

178

The Little Lame Prince.

could I find it?" cried the Prince, jumping
up and looking out of the window.

No help there. He only saw the broad,
bleak, sunshiny plain — that is, at first. But
by and by, in the circle of mud that sur-
rounded the base of the tower, he perceived
distinctly the marks of a horse's feet, and
just in the spot where the deaf-mute was
accustomed to tie up his great black charger,
while he himself ascended, there lay the
remains of a bundle of hay and a feed of
corn.

" Yes, that's it. He has come and gone,
taking nurse away with him. Poor nurse !
how glad she would be to go !"

That was Prince Dolor's first thought.
His second — wasn't it natural ? — was a pas-
sionate indignation at her cruelty — at the
cruelty of all the world toward him, a poor
little helpless boy. Then he determined,
forsaken as he was, to try and hold on to

The Little Lame Prince.

179

the last, and not to die as long as he could
possibly help it.

Anyhow, it would be easier to die here
than out in the world, among the terrible
doings which he had just beheld — from the

^JC

Ic^r^r^

" There was a grand revolution."

midst of which, it suddenly struck him, the
deaf-mute had come, contriving somehow to
make the nurse understand that the king
was dead, and she need have no fear in
going back to the capital, where there was

180

The Little Lame Prince.

a grand revolution, and every thing turned
upside down. So, of course, she had gone.

" I hope she'll enjoy it, miserable woman
— if they don't cut off her head too."

And then a kind of remorse smote him
for feeling so bitterly toward her, after all
the years she had taken care of him —
grudgingly, perhaps, and coldly; still she
had taken care of him, and that even to the
last ; for, as I have said, all his four rooms
were as tidy as possible, and his meals laid
out, that he might have no more trouble
than could be helped.

" Possibly she did not mean to be cruel.
I won't judge her," said he. And after-
ward he was very glad that he had so deter-
mined.

For the second time he tried to dress
himself, and then to do every thing he
could for himself — even to sweeping up the
hearth and putting on more coals. " It's a

The Little Lame Prince.

181

funny thing for a prince to have to do," said
lie, laughing. " But my godmother once
said princes need never mind doing any
thing."

And then he thought a little of his god-
mother. Not of summoning her, or asking
her to help him — she had evidently left him
to help himself, and he was determined to try
his best to do it, being a very proud and in-
dependent boy — but he remembered her
tenderly and regretfully, as if even she had
been a little hard upon him — poor, forlorn
boy that he was. But he seemed to have
seen and learned so much within the last
few days that he scarcely felt like a boy, but
a man — until he went to bed at night.

When I was a child, T used often to think
how nice it would be to live in a little house
all by my own self — a house built high up
in a tree, or far away in a forest, or half-way
up a hill-side — so deliciously alone and inde-

182

The Little Lame Prince.

pendent. Not a lesson to learn — but no ! I
always liked learning my lessons. Any
how, to choose the lessons I liked best, to
have as many books to read and dolls to
play with as ever I wanted : above all, to be
free and at rest, with nobody to tease or
trouble or scold me, would be charming.
For I was a lonely little thing, who liked
quietness — as many children do; which
other children, and sometimes grown-up
people even, can not understand. And so
I can understand Prince Dolor.

After his first despair, he was not merely
comfortable , but actually happy in his solitude,
doing every thing for himself, and enjoying
every thing by himself — until bed-time.

Then he did not like it at all. ISTo more,
I suppose, than other children would have
liked my imaginary house in a tree, when
they had had sufficient of their own com-
pany.

The Little Lame Prince,

183

But the Ftincc had to bear it — and lie
did bear it, like a prince — for fully live
days. All thai, time he got up in the morn-
ing and went to bed at night without having
spoken to a creature, or, indeed, heard a
single sound For even his little lark was
silent; and as for his traveling-cloak, cither
he never thought about it, or else it had
been spirited awa}- — for he made no use of
it, nor attempted to do so.

A very strange existence it was, those five
lonely days. lie never entirely forgot it.
It threw him back upon himself, and into
himself — in a way that all of us have to
learn when we grow up, and are the better
for it; but it is somewhat hard learning.

On the sixth day Prince Dolor had a
strange composure in his look, but he was
very grave and thin and white. He had
nearly come to the end of his provisions — ■
and what was to happen next ? Get out of

184

The Little Lame Prince.

•the tower he could not : the ladder the deaf-
mute used was always carried away again;
and if it had not been, how could the poor
boy have used it ? And even if he slung or
flung himself down, and by miraculous
chance came alive to the foot of the tower,
how could he run away ?

Fate had been very hard to him, or so it
seemed.

He made up his mind to die. Not that
he wished to die ; on the contrary, there was
a great deal that he wished to live to do;
but if he must die, he must. Dying did not
seem so very dreadful; not even to lie quiet
like his uncle, whom he had entirely for-
given now, and neither be miserable nor
naughty any more, and escape all those hor-
rible things that he had seen going on out-
side the palace, in that awful place which
was called " the world."

" It's a great deal nicer here," said the

The Little Lame Prince.

185

poor little Prince, and collected all his pretty
things round him : his favorite pictures,
which he thought he should like to have
near him when he died ; his books and toys
— no, he had ceased to care for toys now;
he only liked them because he had done so
as a child. And there he sat very calm
and patient, like a king in his castle, waiting
for the end.

" Still, I wish I had done something first
— something worth doing, that somebody
might remember me by," thought he.
" Suppose I had grown a man, and had had
work to do, and people to care for, and was
so useful and busy that they liked me, and
perhaps even forgot I was lame ? Then it
would have been nice to live, I think."

A tear came into the little fellow's eyes,
and he listened intently through the dead
silence for some hopeful sound.

Was there one? — was it his little lark,

186

The Little Lame Prince.

whom he had almost forgotten ? ISTo,
nothing half so sweet. But it really was
something— something which came nearer
and nearer, so that there was no mistaking
it. It was the sound of a trumpet, one of
the great silver trumpets so admired in No-
mansland. Not pleasant music, but very
bold, grand, and inspiring.

As he listened to it the boy seemed to re-
call many things which had slipped his
memory for years, and to nerve himself for
whatever might be going to happen.

What had happened was this.

The poor condemned woman had not
been such a wicked woman after all. Per-
haps her courage was not wholly disinter-
ested, but she had done a very heroic thing.
As soon as she heard of the death and bur-
ial of the King, and of the changes that
were taking place in the country, a daring
idea came into her head — to set upon the

The Little Lame Prince.

187

throne of Nomansland its rightful heir.
Thereupon Bhe persuaded the deaf-mute to
take her away with him, and they galloped
like the wind from city to city, spreading
every where the news that Prince Dolor's
death andhurial had heen an invention con-
cocted hy his wicked uncle — that he was
alive and well, and the noblest young
Prince that ever was born.

It was a bold stroke, but it succeeded.
The country, weary perhaps of the late
King's harsh rule, and yet glad to save it-
self from the horrors of the last few days,
and the still further horrors of no rule at
all, and having no particular interest in the
other young princes, jumped at the idea of
this Prince, who was the son of their late
good King and the beloved Queen Dolorez.

" Hurrah for Prince Dolor ! Let Prince
Dolor be our sovereign !" rang from end to
end of the kingdom. Every body tried to

188

The Little Lame Prince.

.remember what a dear baby he once was —
how like his mother, who had been so sweet
and kind, and his father, the finest-looking
king that ever reigned. Nobody remem-
bered his lameness — or, if they did, they
passed it over as a matter of no conse-
quence. They were determined to have
him to reign over them, boy as he was —
perhaps just because he was a boy, since in
that case the great nobles thought they
should be able to do as they liked with the
country.

Accordingly, with a fickleness not con-
fined to the people of Nomansland, no
sooner was the late King laid in his grave
than they pronounced him to have been a
usurper; turned all his family out of the
palace, and left it empty for the reception
of the new sovereign, whom they went to
fetch with great rejoicing, a select body of
lords, gentlemen, and soldiers traveling

The Little Lame Prince.

180

night and day in solemn procession through
the country until they reached Hopeless
Tower.

There they found the Prince, sitting
calmly on the floor — deadly pale, indeed,
for he expected a quite different end from
this, and was 'resolved, if he had to die, to
die courageously, like a Prince and a King.

But when they hailed him as Prince and
King, and explained to him how matters
stood, and went down on their knees before
him, offering the crown (on a velvet cush-
ion, with four golden tassels, each nearly as
big as his head) — small though he was and
lame, which lameness the courtiers pre-
tended not to notice — there came such a
glow into his face, such a dignity into his de-
meanor, that he became beautiful, king-like.

" Yes," he said, " if you desire it, I will
be 3rour king. And I will do my best to
make my people happy."

190

The Little Lame Prince.

Then there arose, from inside and outside
the tower, such a shout as never yet was
heard across the lonely plain.

Prince Dolor shrank a little from the
deafening sound. "How shall I be able to
rule all this great people ? You forget, my
lords, that I am only a little boy still."

" Not so very little," was the respectful
answer. " We have searched in the records,
and found that your Royal Highness — your
Majesty, I mean — is precisely fifteen years
old."

" Am I ?" said Prince Dolor ; and his first
thought was a thoroughly childish pleasure
that he should now have a birthday, with a
whole nation to keep it. Then he remem-
bered that his childish days were done. He
was a monarch now. Even his nurse, to
whom, the moment he saw her, he had held
out his hand, kissed it reverently, and called
him ceremoniously " his Majesty the King."

''They went down on their knees before him, offering him the crown
on a velvet cushion."

( 191 )

The Little Lame Prince.

193

" A king must be always a king, I sup-
pose," said lie half sadly, when, the cere-
monies over, ho had been left to himself for
just ten minutes, to put off his boy's clothes
and be reattired in magnificent robes, be-
fore he was conveyed away from his tower
to the royal palace.

lie could take nothing with him ; indeed,
he soon saw that, however politely they
spoke, they would not allow him to take
any thing. If he was to be their king, he
must give up his old life forever. So he
looked with tender farewell on his old
books, old toys, the furniture he knew so
well, and the familiar plain in all its level-
ness — ugly yet pleasant, simply because it
was familiar.

" It will be a new life in a new world,"
said he to himself; "but I'll remember the
old things still. And, oh ! if before I go I
could but once see my dear old godmother."

194

The Little Lame Prince.

"While he spoke he had laid himself down
on the bed for a minute or two, rather tired
with his grandeur, and confused by the noise
of the trumpets which kept playing inces-
santly down below. He gazed, half sadly,
up to the sky-light, whence there came pour-
ing a stream of sun-rays, with innumerable
motes floating there, like a bridge thrown
between heaven and earth. Sliding down
it, as if she had been made of air, came the
little old woman in gray.

So beautiful looked she — old as she was
— that Prince Dolor was at first quite
startled by the apparition. Then he held
out his arms in eager delight.

" Oh, godmother, you have not forsaken
me!"

" Not at all, my son. You may not have
seen me, but I have seen you many a time."

"How?"

" Oh, never mind. I can turn into any

The Little Lame Prince.

195

thing I please, you know. And I have
been a bearskin rug, and a crystal goblet —
and sometimes I have changed from inani-
mate to animate nature, put on feathers, and
made myself very comfortable as a bird."

"Ha!" laughed the Prince, a new light
breaking in upon him, as he caught the
infection of her tone, lively and mischievous.
" Ha, ha ! a lark, for instance ?"

" Or a magpie," answered she, with a
capital imitation of Mistress Mag's croaky
voice. " Do you suppose I am always
sentimental, and never funny? If any
thing makes you happy, gay, or grave, don't
you think it is more than likely to come
through your old godmother ?"

" I believe that," said the boy tenderly,
holding out his arms. They clasped one
another in a close embrace.

Suddenly Prince Dolor looked very anx-
ious. " You will not leave me, now that I

196

The Little Lame Prince.

am a king ? Otherwise I had rather not be
a king at all. Promise never to forsake
me!"

The little old woman laughed gayly.
" Forsake you ? that is impossible. But it
is just possible you may forsake me. ISTot
probable, though. Your mother never did,
and she was a queen. The sweetest queen
in all the world was the Lady Dolorez."

" Tell me about her," said the boy eagerly.
" As I get older I think I can understand
more. Do tell me."

" Not now. You couldn't hear me for
the trumpets and the shouting. But when
you are come to the palace, ask for a long-
closed upper room, which looks out upon
the Beautiful Mountains ; open it and take
it for your own. Whenever you go there
you will always find me, and we will talk
together about all sorts of things."

" And about my mother?"

The Little Lame Prince.

197

The little old woman nodded — and kept
nodding and smiling to herself many times,
as the boy repeated over and over again the
sweet words he had never known or under-
stood— " my mother — my mother."

" Now I must go," said she, as the trum-
pets blared louder and louder, and the
shouts of the people showed that they
would not endure any delay. " Good-by,
Good-by ! Open the window and out I

Prince Dolor repeated gayly the musical
rhyme — but all the while tried to hold his
godmother fast.

Vain, vain ! for the moment that a knock-
ing was heard at his door the sun went be-
hind a eloud, the bright stream of dancing
motes vanished, and the little old woman
with them — he knew not where.

So Prince Dolor quitted his tower —
which he had entered so mournfully and

198

The Little Lame Prince.

ignominiously as a little helpless baby car-
ried in the deaf-mute's arms — quitted it as
the great king of Ionian si and.

The only thing he took away with him
was something so insignificant that none of
the lords, gentlemen, and soldiers who es-
corted him with such triumphant splendor
could possibly notice it — a tiny bundle,
which he had found lying on the floor just
where the bridge of sunbeams had rested.
At once he had pounced upon it, and thrust
it secretly into his bosom, where it dwindled
into such small proportions that it might
have been taken for a mere chest-comforter,
a bit of flannel,. or an old pocket-handker-
chief.

It was his traveling-cloak !

The Little Lame Prince.

190

CHAPTER X.

Did Prinee Dolor become a great king ?
Was he, though little more than a boy, " the
father of his people," as all kings ought to
be ? Did his reign last long — long and
happy ? and what were the principal events
of it, as chronicled in the history of No-
mansland ?

Why, if I were to answer all these ques-
tions I should have to write another book.
And I'm tired, children, tired — as grown-up
people sometimes are, though not always
with play. (Besides, I have a small person
belonging to me, who, though she likes ex-
tremely to listen to the word-of-mouth story
of this book, grumbles much at the writing
of it, and has run about the house clapping
her hands with joy when mamma told her

gfBs

Ip^^Vy*

200

The Little Lame Prince.

that it was nearly finished. But that is
neither here nor there.)

I have related, as well as I could, the his-
tory of Prince Dolor, but with the history
of Nomansland I am as yet unacquainted.
If any body knows it, perhaps he or she will
kindly write it all down in another book.
But mine is done.

However, of this I am sure, that Prince
Dolor made an excellent king. Nobody
ever does any thing less well, not even the
commonest duty of common daily life, for
having such a godmother as the little old
woman clothed in gray, whose name is —
well, I leave you to guess. Nor, I think, is
any body less good, less capable of both
work and enjoyment in after-life, for having
been a little unhappy in his youth, as the
Prince had been.

I can not take upon myself to say that he
was always happy now — who is ? — or that

The Little Lame Prince.

201

l'"^-//

he had no cares; just show me the person
who is quite free from them ! But when-
ever people worried and bothered him — as
they did sometimes, with state etiquette,
state squabbles, and the like, setting up
themselves and pulling down their neigh-
bors— he would take refuge in that upper
room which looked out on the Beautiful
Mountains, and, laying his head on his
godmother's shoulder, become calmed and
at rest.

Also, she helped him out of any difficulty
which now and then occurred — for there
never was such a wise old woman. When
the people of ISTomansland raised the alarm
— as sometimes they did — for what people
can exist without a little fault-finding? —
and began to cry out, " Unhappy is the na-
tion whose king is a child," she would say
to him gently, " You are a child. Accept
the fact. Be humble — be teachable. Lean

202

The Little Lame Prince.

upon the wisdom of others till you have
■',| gained your own."

He did so. He learned how to take ad-
vice before attempting to give it, to obey
before he could righteously command. He
assembled round him all the good and wise
of his kingdom — laid all its affairs before
them, and was guided by their opinions
until he had maturely formed his own.

This he did sooner than any body would
have imagined who did not know of his
godmother and his traveling-cloak — two
secret blessings, which, though many
guessed at, nobody quite understood. Nor
did they understand why he loved so the
little upper room, except that it had been
his mother's room, from the window of
which, as people remembered now, she had
used to sit for hours watching the Beautiful
Mountains.

Out of that window he used to fly — not

The Little Lame Prince.

203

very often; as ho grew older, the labors of
state prevented the frequent use of his
traveling-cloak; still he did use it some-
times. Only now it was less for his own
pleasure and amusement than to see some-
thing or investigate something for the good
of the country. But he prized his god-
mother's gift as dearly as ever. It was a
comfort to him in all his vexations; an en-
hancement of all his joys. It made him
almost forget his lameness — which was
never cured.

However, the cruel things which had
been once foreboded of him did not happen.
His misfortune was not such a heavy one
after all. It proved to be of much less in-
convenience, even to himself, than had been
feared. A council of eminent surgeons and
mechanicians invented for him a wonderful
pair of crutches, with the help of which,
though he never walked easily or grace-

204

The Little Lame Prince.

fully, he did manage to walk so as to be quite
independent. And such was the love his
people bore him that they never heard the
sound of his crutches on the marble palace-
floors without a leap of the heart, for they
knew that good was coming to them when-
ever he approached them.

Thus, though he never walked in proces-
sions, never reviewed his troops mounted
on a magnificent charger, nor did any of the
tilings which make a show monarch so
much appreciated, he Avas able for all the
duties and a great many of the pleasures of
his rank. When he held his levees, not
standing, but seated on a throne ingeni-
ously contrived to hide his infirmity, the
people thronged to greet him ; when he
drove out through the city streets, shouts
followed him wherever he went — every
countenance brightened as he passed, and
his own, perhaps, was the brightest of all.

The Little Lame Prince.

20i

First, because, accepting his affliction as
inevitable, lie took it patiently; second,
because, being a brave man, he bore it
bravely, trying to forget himself, and live
out of himself, and in and for other people.
Therefore other people grew to love him so
well that I think hundreds of his subjects
might have been found who were almost
ready to die for their poor lame King.

He never gave them a queen. When
they implored him to choose one, he replied
that his country was his bride, and he de-
sired no other. But, perhaps, the real reason
was that he shrank from any change ; and
that no wife in all the world would have
been found so perfect, so lovable, so tender
to him in all his weaknesses, as his beautiful
old godmother.

His four-and-twenty other godfathers and
godmothers, or as many of them as were
still alive, crowded around him as soon as

206

The Little Lame Prince.

he ascended the throne. He was very civil
to them all, but adopted none of the names
they had given him, keeping to the one by
which he had been always known, though
it had now almost lost its meaning ; for
King Dolor was one of the happiest and
cheerfulest men alive.

He did a good many things, however, un-
like most men and most kings, which a little
astonished his subjects. First, he pardoned
the condemned woman who had been his
nurse, and ordained that from henceforward
there should be no such thing as the punish-
ment of death in JSTomansland. All capital
criminals were to be sent to perpetual im-
prisonment in Hopeless Tower and the plain
round about it, where they could do no
harm to any body, and might in time do a
little good, as the woman had done.

Another surprise he shortly afterward
gave the nation. He recalled his uncle's

The Little Lame Prince.

207

family, who had fled away in terror to
another country, and restored them to all
their honors in their own. By and by he
chose the eldest son of his eldest cousin
(who had been dead a year), and had him
educated in the royal palace, as the heir to
the throne. This little prince was a quiet,
unobtrusive boy, so that every body won-
dered at the King's choosing him when
there were so many more; but as he grew
into a fine young fellow, good and brave,
thry agreed that the King judged more
wisely than they.

"Not a lame prince, either," his Majesty
observed one day, watching him affection-'
ately ; for he was the best runner, the high-
est leaper, the keenest and most active
sportsman in the country. " One can not
make one's self, but one can sometimes help
a little in the making of somebody else. It
is well."

208

The Little Lame Prince.

This was said, not to any of Lis great
lords and ladies, but to a good old woman —
his first homely nurse — whom he had sought
for far and wide, and at last found in her
cottage among the Beautiful Mountains.
lie sent for her to visit him once a year,
and treated her with great honor until she
died. He was equally kind, though some-
what less tender, to his other nurse, who,
after receiving her pardon, returned to her
native town and grew into a great lady, and
I hope a good one. But as she was so
grand a personage now, any little faults she
had did not show.

Thus King Dolor's reign passed, year
after year, long and prosperous. Whether
he were happy — " as happy as a king" — is
a question no human being can decide.
But I think he was, because he had the
power of making every body about him
happy, and did it too ; also because he was

The Little Lame Prince.

200

his godmother's godson, and could shut
himself up with her whenever he liked, in
that quiet little room in view of the Beauti-
ful Mountains, which nobody else ever saw
or cared to see. They were too far off, and
the city lay so low. But there they were,
all the time. No change ever came to
them ; and I think, at any day throughout
his long reign, the King would sooner have
lost his crown than have lost sight of the
Beautiful Mountains.

In course of time, when the little Prince,
his cousin, was grown into a tall young
man, capable of all the duties of a man, his
Majesty did one of the most extraordinary
acts ever known in a sovereign beloved by
his people and prosperous in his reign. He
announced that he wished to invest his heir
with the royal purple — at any rate, for a time
— while he himself went away on a distant

journey, whither he had long desired to go.
14

210

The Little Lame Prince.

Every body marveled, but nobody op-
posed him. Who could oppose the good
King, who was not a young king now ?
And besides, the nation had a great ad-
miration for the young Regent — and, pos-
sibly, a lurking pleasure in change.

So there was fixed a day when all the
people whom it would hold assembled in
the great square of the capital, to see the
young Prince installed solemnly in his new
duties, and undertaking his new vows. He
was a very fine young fellow : tall and
straight as a poplar-tree, with a frank, hand-
some face — a great deal handsomer than
the King, some people said, but others
thought differently. However, as his Ma-
jesty sat on his throne, with his gray hair
falling from underneath his crown, and a
few wrinkles showing in spite of his smile,
there was something about his countenance
which made his people, even while they

"He lifted up his thin, slender hand."

(211)

The Little Lame Prince.

213

shouted, regard him with a tenderness mixed
with awe. lie lifted up his thin, slender hand,
and there came a silence over the vast crowd
immediately. Then he spoke, in his own
accustomed way, using no grand words, but
saying what he had to say in the simplest
fashion, though with a clearness that struck
their ears like the first song of a bird in the
dusk of the morning.

" My people, I am tired : I want to rest.
I have had a long reign, and done much
work — at least, as much as I was able to
do. Many might have done it better than
I — but none with a better will. Now I
leave it to others ; I am tired, very tired.
Let me go home."

There arose a murmur — of content or dis-
content none could well tell; then it died
down again, and the assembly listened
silently once more.

" I am not anxious about you, my people

214

The Little Lame Prince.

— my children," continued the King. "You
are prosperous and at peace. I leave you
in good hands. The Prince Regent will be
a fitter king for you than I."

" No, no, no !" rose the universal shout —
and those who had sometimes found fault
with him shouted louder than any body.
But he seemed as if he heard them not.

" Yes, yes," said he, as soon as the tumult
had a little subsided : and his voice sounded
firm and clear ; and some very old people,
who boasted of having seen him as a child,
declared that his face took a sudden change,
and grew as young and sweet as that of the
little Prince Dolor. " Yes, I must go. It
is time for me to go. Remember me some-
times, my people, for I have loved you well.
And I am going a long way, and I do not
think I shall come back any more."

He drew a little bundle out of his breast
pocket — a bundle that nobody had ever

v< **

The Little Lame Prince.

215

seen before. It was small and shabby-
looking, and tied up with many knots,
which untied themselves in an instant.
With a joyful countenance, he muttered
over it a few half-intelligible words. Then,
so suddenly that even those nearest to his
Majesty could not tell how it came about,
the King was away — away — floating right
up in the air — upon something, they knew
not what, except that it appeared to be as
safe and pleasant as the wings of a bird.

And after him sprang a bird — a dear little
lark, rising from whence no one could say,
since larks do not usually build their nests
in the pavement of city squares. But there
it was, a real lark, singing far over their
heads, louder and clearer, and more joyful
as it vanished further into the blue sky.

Shading their eyes, and straining their
ears, the astonished people stood until the
whole vision disappeared like a speck in the

216

The Little Lame Prince.

clouds — the rosy clouds that overhung the
Beautiful Mountains. Then they guessed that
they should see their beloved King no more.
Well-beloved as he was, he had always been
somewhat of a mystery to them, and such he
remained. But they went home, and, accept-
ing their new monarch, obeyed him faithfully
for his cousin's sake. King Dolor was never
again beheld or heard of in his country. But
the good he had done there lasted for years ;
he was long missed and deeply mourned —
at least, so far as any body could mourn
one who was gone on such a happy journey.

Whither he went, or who went with him,
it is impossible to say. But I myself believe
that his godmother took him on his travel-
ing-cloak to the Beautiful Mountains. What
he did there, orwhere he is now, who can tell?
I can not. But one thing I am quite sure of,
that, wherever he is, he is perfectly happy.

And so, when I think of him, am I.

GALOPOFF, THE TALKING PONY

By TUDOR JENK5,

Author of " Imagination*," " The Century World'! Fair Hook," " The Boys' Book of Ex-
ploration," etc., etc. Pictures by Howard R. Cort.
A story for young folks, told In the captivating style that has made
Mr. Jenks' name a household word wherever there are English-speak-
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" Black Beauty," or "Alice in Wonderland."
12 mo, cloth, $1.00

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etc., etc. Pictures by C. M. Relyea.
A story of boarding-school life, far above the average of such stories.
Toinette Reeve, who has scarcely known the influence of a happy
home or tender mother's love, is taken from a school where the posses-
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sensible, loving instructors who are not one whit behind their charges
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12mo, cloth, $1.00

THE LITTLE LADY— HER BOOK

By ALBERT BIGELOW PAINE.

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The Little Lady, who lives with the Big Man and the Little Woman
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It is worth while for boys to read such a book as this, and girls, too,
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A remarkable book for boys and girls, fully as fascinating as the
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STEPHEN, A SOLDIER OF THE CROSS

By FLORENCE MORSE KINGSLEY

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Cloth, Illustrated in Colors, $1.00

The story of Stephen is little known; only the last day of his
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ages. The ancient alchemists are said to have possessed the
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A STORY FOR GIRLS
By FLORENCE MORSE KINGSLEY

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The heroine is an attractive young woman of nineteen, who
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An old mansion which still remains to the family is made habit-
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With the transformation of the old house comes the discovery
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By GABRIELLE E. JACKSON

Mrs. Jackson is known as a writer of delightful stories, and this is one of her
best. It will win the appreciation of all readers.

Cloth, Illustrated, $1.00

GYPSY, THE TALKING DOG

By TUDOR JENKS

It is well to read all that Mr. Jenlcs tells us about animals that talk, and it is
hard not to believe in the clever dog's feats.

Cloth, Illustrated,

$1.00

FOLLY IN THE FOREST

By CAROLYN WELLS

This time Folly visits the Forest of the Past, where she meets and is enter-
tained by the famous Animals of Mythology, History and Literature.

Cloth, Illustrated, $ 1 00

POLLY PERKINS* ADVENTURES

By E. LOUISE LIDDELL

Nothing could be more delightful than the rare, bright fun of these chapters.

Cloth, Illustrated, $1.00

WINGS AND FETTERS

A STORY FOR GIRLS

By FLORENCE MORSE K1NGSLEY

Author of "Titus," "Stephen," "Paul," etc.
The heroine sacrifices a life of ease to care for an invalid aunt and her daughter.

Cloth, Illustrated,

$1.00

RATAPLAN, A ROGUE ELE-
PHANT, AND OTHER STORIES

By ELLEN VELVIN, F. Z. S.

Books that help ns to a more intimate acquaintance with the habits, traits and
characteristics of animals are very welcome.

Illustrations in Color. Cloth, $1.25 Net; Postage, 13 Cents
Additional

Henry Altemus Company, Philadelphia

J1LTEMUS' ILLUSTRATED

YOUNG PEOPLE'S
HISTORIES i£? & &

By Edward S. Ellis, A.M.

These volumes are written with all the fascinating skill,
graphic power and impressive presentation of facts that
have won world-wide fame for Mr. Elli , who is confessedly
the most brilliant and popular of living wricers for boys.

They are full and accurate in their statements : open-
ing with the first glimmerings of history, the events
are brought down to the present ; the subject matter is
arranged in true historical proportions; the incidents are told
with vivid and graceful power ; the pages are luminous with
truth, with patriotism, and all the charming style of the
most delightful romance.

They contain no superfluous words, neither are they
''written down" to the presumed capacity of learners,
important facts and apposite comments are furnished, and
as much detail as is available for schools or for the general
reader. In the hands of Mr. Ellis history becomes as fas-
cinating as romance. The text is not statistical, but ample
reference tables and voluminous indices are found in their
proper places in each volume. In the case of important
wars, the way in which they began and ended is clearly
presented, and enough detail supplied to show the spirit in
which they were carried on.

Handsomely printed on fine super-calendered paper from
large, clear type, and profusely illustrated in the highest
style of art, with handsome frontispieces, portraits of the
great makers of history, and superb illustrations of leading
events and incidents, from rare historical paintings and en-
gravings, they present the handsomest and most interesting
series of histories ever prepared for young readers.

Henry Altemus Company, Philadelphia

J1LTEMUS' ILLUSTRATED

YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY
OF THE UNITED STATES

By Edward S. Ellis, A. M.

It is appropriate that the initial work of this series should
be that of our own country. From a few struggling colon-
ies strung along the Atlantic seaboard, with a population of
less than three millions, it has expanded in a little more
than a century to an area that stretches from the Atlantic
to the Pacific, and from the frozen regions of the North to
the Gulf of Mexico, with almost a hundred million inhabi-
tants.

No nation or country has so fascinating and instructive a
history as that of the United States. Strange adventures
and marvelous achievement crowd its pages ; and the
attainments shown in the fields of education, of discovery,
of invention, of literature, of a^t and science are wonderful
and unprecedented.

This volume enables every boy and girl to make them-
selves familiar with the leading facts in our history from the
discovery of America to the present time. It will make
them, if possible, more patriotic, and w'll stimulate an
interest in deeper historical study.

The full text of the Constitution of '.ne United States and
tables of the Presidents are given ; also the area and popu-
lation cf each state and territory, with the derivation of its
name and the date of its admission into the Union. These,
with an exhaustive index, round out the volume to generous
proportions.

I2mo, cloth, ornamental, 38O pages, 164 illustrations. $1.00.

J1LTEMUS' ILLUSTRATED

YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY

OF ENGLAND & 0 & 0

By Edward S. Ellis, A. M.

No history can be more absorbing and instructive to
youths and adults than the History of England, and the
aim of this volume is to enable them to easily acquire a
knowledge of the leading facts in the building of the
stupendous British Empire, whose full history, teeming
with mighty events and spanning twenty centuries, re-
quires volumes for the telling.

It is not intended that this shall take the place of the
larger works — Hume, Macaulay, Freeman, Froude, and
others — but instead to note the towering landmarks which
mark the sweep of the empire along the road of discovery,
conquest, progress, development, civilization, learning, art,
literature, science and Christianity. Yet, it is a comprehen-
sive survey of the advancement of a horde of wild savages,
conquered by the Romans before the Christian Era, to the
proud position of the foremost Christian Power of the Old
World, and its perusal will arouse an interest that can only
be satisfied by a deeper and more extended study of the
Auglo-Saxon race, the dominant factor in the future devel-
opment and progress of the world.

Valuable reference tables, showing a list of the sovereigns
of England, its colonies and dependencies, with dates and
modes of acquisition, area, population, etc., are incorpor-
ated into the volume.

I2mo, cloth, ornamental, 330 pages, 164 illustrations. $1.00.

Henry Altemus Company, Philadelphia

jiLTEMUS' ILLUSTRATED

YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY
OF FRANCE 0 & 0 &

By Edward S. Ellis, A.M.

At present France appears to be a republic ; she
has been an aristocracy, a monarchy, an absolute
despotism, and a commune. She has been ruled by
savages, and by men claiming to be civilized, yet
who were less worthy to rule than savages. Her
throne has been filled by monsters of villainy and
by wise and good statesmen. She produced the
greatest military genius the world ever saw ; her
scholars, scientists, discoverers, philosophers, poets,
dramatists, historians, novelists, essayists, sculptors
and painters have never been surpassed.

No nation has been more humiliated than France;
none has been exalted to more dizzy heights of
glory. Her dreams have turned into realities,
and her realities have dissolved into visions. In
blood and flame she has gone down to despair and
then leaped to heights that have caused the world
to wonder.

France is a wonderful nation, and her history is
instructive, for it includes every system of govern-
ment that the ingenuity of man can devise. It is
full of warnings, too, and of instructive lessons for
American youths, lessons of absorbing interest and
of amazing length and breadth.
I2mo, cloth, ornamental, 355 pages. 115 illustrations. #1.00.

Henry Altemus Company, Philadelphia

jiLTEMUS' ILLUSTRATED

YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY
OF GERMANY ® & 0 &

By Edward S. Ellis, A. M.

The long, varied and wonderfully interesting his-
tory of Germany, begins in the dim legends of the
savages who roamed the wilderness between the
Alps and the Baltic, and stretches across two
thousand years to the German Empire of to-day and
its population of more than fifty millions.

The record of Germany, now among the foremost
Powers of the globe, is one of valiant achievement
on the battlefield, of patient suffering under grind-
ing tyranny, of grim resolution and heroic en-
deavor, and of grand triumphs in art, science,
literature, diplomacy. It is a story of patriotic
toil, sacrifice and daring.

The story is as instructive as impressive ; and, as
in former volumes in this series, the author has
laboriously winnowed the wheat from the chaff, and
has set forth such leading facts as will enable youth-
ful readers to gain an intelligent idea of the chief
incidents in the history of the German Empire from
the dawn of its first authentic records to the present
time.
I2rno cloth, ornamental, 320 pages, 115 illustrations. fi.oc*.

Henry Altemus Company, Philadelphia

ALTEMUS' ILLUSTRATED

YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY
OF ROME 0 & 0 & 0

By Edward S. Ellis, A. M.

The shriveled Rome of to-day is but a faint shadow of the
stupendous empire whose mailed legions made the earth
tremble beneath their tread; but the story of its grandeur
can never be lost, and shall influence mankind through all
ages to come. Its magnificence has never been surpassed ;
its heroism and sacrifices have touched the limit of human
endeavor.

The story of Rome, the Imperial City ; Rome, the mis-
tress of the world, ruling one hundred millions of people
from her seat upon the Seven Hills, is at once a narrative
of human greatness and weakness, of heroic achievement,
of virtue and crime, of progress and retrogression, of power,
corruption, decay, and the crash of overwhelming ruin.
There are dim, misty beginnings, and then the teeming
centuries sweep on, with other nations trampled into the
dust, and the Roman cohorts ground to powder by them in
turn. The story sounds the whole gamut of a nation's
birth, youth, manhood, old age, and death.

The volume is not mere biography and the records of
battles, for history is more than that, but in addition to
these features it sets forth events and their connections, the
influence of foreign conquests, and gives, besides, a com-
prehensive survey of the religion, manners and customs of
the times.

I2mo, cloth, ornamental. 300 pages, nearly 100 illustrations.

% 1. 00.

J1LTEMUS' ILLUSTRATED

YOUNG PEOPLES HISTORY
OF GREECE j& & & &

By Edward S. Ellis, A. M.

In tracing back the development of the present civilized
nations, there is an unbroken line by which we reach the
Romans. Still back of them and down their line, we reach
the Greeks, whose history forms one of the most fascinating
and instructive narratives in the annals of mankind.

We know very little of their early history, yet, by digging
deep into the ground we find remains of ancient strongholds
and cities ; mighty tombs, with not only the dust of dead
warriors in them, but swords, ornaments and pottery as
well ; and from these we can paint vague pictures of the
Mythical or Heroic Age of Greece. At best these are but
shadow pictures, for only here and there do lines of reality
show at all, but there is a splendor about them and a love-
liness that the world cannot afford to lose.

These men of Greece became exceedingly skilled in the
arts. Famous painters and sculptors arose among them,
and mighty poets and teachers whose writings still remain
among the most wonderful ever produced by man.

It is impossible not to catch the inspiration of the author
as he traces the history of this wonderful people from pre-
historic to modern times.

I2mo, cloth, ornamental, 300 pages, about 100 illustrations.

1 1. 00.

Henry Altemus Company, Philadelphia

ALTEMUS'

Young People's Library.

Price, 50 Cents Each.

ROBINSON CRUSOE : His Life and Strange Surprising
Adventures. With 70 beautiful illustrations by Walter
Paget. Arranged for young readers.

"Theie exists no work, either of instruction or entertainment,
which has been more generally read, and universally admired."
— Waiter Scott.

ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND. With 42
illustrations by John Tenniel.

"This is Carroll's immortal story." — AthentBUm.
"The most delightful of children's stories. Elegant and deli-
cious nonsense " — Saturday Review.

THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS AND WHAT
ALICE FOUND THERE. (A companion to Alice in
Wonderland.) With 50 illustrations by John Tenniel.

" Not A whit inferior to its predecessor in grand extravagance of
imagination, and delicious allegorical nonsense." — Quarterly
Review.

BUNYAN'S PILGRIM'S PROGRESS. With 50 full-page
and text illustrations.

Pilgrim's Progress is the most popular story book in the
world. With the exception of the Bible it has been translated into
more languages than any other book ever printed.

A CHILD'S STORY" OF THE BIBLE. With 72 full-page
illustrations.

Tells in simple language and in a form fitted for the hands of
the younger members of the Christian flock, the tale of God's
dealings with his Chosen People under the Old Dispensation,
with its foreshadowings of the coming of that Messiah who was
to make all mankind one fold under one Shepherd.

ALTEMUS' YOUNG PEOPLE'S LIBRARY.

A CHILD'S LIFE OF CHRIST. With 49 illustrations.

God has implanted in the infant's heart a desire to hear of Jesus,
and children are early attracted and sweetly riveted by the won-
derful Story of the Master from the Manger to the Throne.

In this little book we have brought together from Scripture every
incident, expression and description within the verge of their com-
prehension, in the effort to weave them into a memorial garland of
their Saviour.

THE FABLES OF vESOP. Compiled from the best ac-
cepted sources. With 62 illustrations.

The fables of /Esop are among the very earliest compositions of
this kind, and probably have never been surpassed for point and
brevity, as well as for the practical good sense they display. In
their grotesque grace, in their quaint humor, in their trust in the
simpler virtues, in their insight into the cruder vices, in their inno-
cence of the fact of sex, /Esop's Fables are as little children — and
for that reason will ever find a home in the heaven of little chil-
dren's souls.

THE SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON, or the Adventures of
a Shipwrecked Family on an Uninhabited Island. With
50 illustrations.

A remarkable tale of adventure that will interest the boys and
girls. The father of the family tells the tale and the vicissitudes
through which he and his wife and children pass, the wonderful
discoveries they make, and the dangers they encounter. It is a
standard work of adventure that has the favor of all who have
read it.

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS AND THE DISCOVERY
OF AMERICA. With 70 illustrations.

It is the duty of every American lad to know the story of Chris-
topher Columbus. In this book is depicted the story of his life
and struggles ; of his persistent solicitations at the courts of Eu-
rope, and his contemptuous receptions by the learned Geographical
Councils, until his final employment by Queen Isabella. Records
the day-by-day journeyings while he was pursuing his aim and his
perilous way over the shoreless ocean, until he " gave to Spain a
New World." Shows his progress through Spain on the occasion
of his first return, when he was received with rapturous demon-
strations and more than regal homage. His displacement by tbo

AI.TEMUS' YOUNG PEOPLE'S LIBRARY.

Odjeas, Ovandos and Bobadilas ; his last return in chains, and the
story of his death in poverty and neglect.

THE STORY OF EXPLORATION AND DISCOVERY
IN AFRICA. With So illustrations.

Records the adventures, privations, sufferings, trials, dangers
and discoveries in developing the "Dark Continent," from the
early days of Bruce and Mungo Park down to Livingstone and
Stanley and the heroes of our own times.

The reader becomes carried away by conflicting emotions ol
wonder and sympathy, and feels compelled to pursue the story,
which he cannot lay down. No present can be more acceptable
than such a volume as this, where courage, intrepidity, resource
and devotion are so pleasantly mingled. It is very fully illustra-
ted with pictures worthy of the book.

GULLIVER'S TRAVELS INTO SOME REMOTE RE-
GIONS OF THE WORLD. With 50 illustrations.

In description, even of the most common-place things, his power
is often perfectly marvellous. Macaulay says of Swift: " Under
a plain garb and ungainly deportment were concealed some of the
choicest gifts that ever have been bestowed on any of the children
of men — rare powers of observation, brilliant art, grotesque inven-
tion, humor of the most austere flavor, yet exquisitely delicious,
eloquence singularly pure, manly and perspicuous."

MOTHER GOOSE'S RHYMES, JINGLES AND FAIRY
TALES. With 300 illustrations.

" In this edition an excellent choice has been made from the
standard fiction of the little ones. The abundant pictures are well-
drawn and graceful, the effect frequently striking and always deco-
rative."— Ci-itic.
■ " Only to see the book is to wish to give it to every child one

knows."- — Queen.

LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED
STATES. Compiled from authoritative sources. With
portraits of the Presidents ; and also of the unsuccessful
candidates for the office ; as well as the ablest of the
Cabinet officers.

This book should be in every home and school library. It tells,
in an impartial way, the story of the political history of the United
States, from the first Constitutional convention to the last Presi»

ALTEMUS' YOUNG PEOPLE'S LIBRARY.

dential nominations, it is just the book for intelligent boys, and it
will help to make them intelligent and patriotic citizens.

THE STORY OF ADVENTURE IN THE FROZEN
SEA. With 70 illustrations. Compiled from authorized
sources.

We here have brought together the records of the attempts to
reach the North Pole. Our object being to recall the stories of the
early voyagers, and to narrate the recent efforts of gallant adven-
turers of various nationalities to cross the " unknown and inacces-
ible " threshold ; and to show how much can be accomplished by
indomitable pluck and steady perseverance. Portraits and numer-
ous illustrations help the narration.

ILLUSTRATED NATURAL HISTORY. By the Rev.
J. G. Wood. With 80 illustrations.

Wood's Natural History needs no commendation. Its author
has done more than any other writer to popularize the study. His
work IS known and admired overall the civilized world. The sales
of his work* in England and America have been enormous. The
illustrations in this edition are entirely new, striking and life-like.

A CHILD'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND. By Charles
Dickens. With 50 illustrations.

Dickens grew tired of listening to his children memorizing the
old fashioned twaddle that went under the name of English his-
tory. He thereupon wrote a book, in his own peculiarly happy
style, primarily for the educational advantage of his own children,
but was prevailed upon to publish the work, and make its use gen-
eral. Its success was instantaneous and abiding.

BLACK BEAUTY; The Autobiography of a Horse. By
Anna Sewell. With 50 illustrations.

This new illustrated edition is sure to command attention.
Wherever children are, whether boys or girls, there this Autobiog-
raphy should be. It inculcates habits of kindness to all members
of the animal creation. The literary merit of the book is excellent.

THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS. With
50 illustrations. Contains the most favorably known of
the stories.

The text is somewhat abridged and edited for the young. It
forms an excellent introduction to those immortal tales which have
helped so long to keep the weary world young.

ALTEMUS' YOUNG PEOPLE'S LIBRARY

ANDERSEN'S FAIRY TALES. By Hans Christian An-
dersen. With 77 illustrations.

The spirit of high moral teaching, and the delicacy of sentiment,
feeling and expression that pervade these tales make these won-
derful creations not only attractive to the young, but equally accept-
able to those of mature years, who are able to understand their
real significance and appreciate the depth of their meaning.

GRIMM'S FAIRY TALES. With 50 illustrations.

These tales of the Brothers Grimm have carried their names into
every household of the civilized world.

The Tales are a wonderful collection, as interesting, from j lit-
erary point of view, as they are delightful as stories.

GRANDFATHER'S CHAIR; A History for Youth. By
Nathaniel Hawthorne. With 60 illustrations.

The story of America from the landing of the Puritans to the
acknowledgment -without reserve of the Independence of the
United States, told with all the elegance, simplicity, grace, clear-
ness and force for which Hawthorne is conspicuously noted.

FLOWER FABLES. By Louisa May Alcott. With colored
and plain illustrations.

A series of very interesting fairy tales by the most charming of
American story-tellers.

AUNT MARTHA'S CORNER CUPBOARD. By Mary
and Elizabeth Kirby. With 60 illustrations.

Stories about Tea, Coffee, Sugar, Rice and Chinaware, and
other accessories of the well-kept Cupboard. A book full of in-
terest for all the girls and many of the boys.

WATER -BABIES; A Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby. By
Charles Kingsley. With 94 illustrations.

" Come read me my riddle, each good little man ;
If you cannot read it, no grown-up folk can."

BATTLES OF THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. By
Prescott Holmes. With 70 illustrations.

A graphic and full history of the Rebellion of the American Col-
onies from the yoke and oppression of England, with the causes

ALTEMUS' YOUNG PEOPLE'S LIBRARY.

that led thereto, and including an account of the second war with
Great Britain, and the War with Mexico.

BATTLES OF THE WAR FOR THE UNION. By
Prescott Holmes. With 80 illustrations.

A correct and impartial .account of the greatest civil war in the
annals of history. Both of these histories of American wars are
a necessary part of the education of all intelligent American boys
and girls.

YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF THE WAR WITH

SPAIN. By Prescott Holmes. With 89 illustrations.

This history of our war with Spain, in 1898, presents in a plain,
easy style the splendid achievements of our army and navy, and
the prominent figures that came into the public view during that
period. Its glowing descriptions, wealth of anecdote, accuracy of
statement and profusion of illustration make it a most desirable
gift book for young readers.

HEROES OF THE UNITED STATES NAVY. By
Hart well James. With 65 illustrations.

The story of our navy is one of the most brilliant pages in the
world's history. The sketches and exploits contained in this vol-
ume cover our entire naval history from the days of the honest,
rough sailors of Revolutionary times, with their cutlasses and
boarding pikes, to the brief war of 1898, when our superbly ap-
pointed warships destroyed Spain's proud cruisers by the merci-
less accuracy of their fire.

MILITARY HEROES OF THE UNITED STATES.

By Hartwell James. With 97 illustrations.

In this volume the brave lives and heroic deeds of our military
heroes, from Paul Revere to Lawton, are told in the most captiva-
ting manner. The material for the work has been gathered from
the North and the South alike. The volume presents all the im-
portant facts in a manner enabling the young people of our united
and prosperous land to easily become familiar with the command-
ing figures that have arisen in our military history.

UNCLE TOM'S CABIN; or Life Among the Lowly. By
Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe. With 90 illustrations.

ALTEMUS* YOUNG PEOPLE'S LIBRARY.

The unfailing interest in the famous old story suggested the need
of an edition specially prepared for young readers, and elaborately
illustrated. This edition completely fills that want.

RIP VAN WINKLE. A LEGEND OF THE HUDSON.
By Washington Irving. With 46 illustrations.

In this edition the passages illustrated come directly opposite
their respective illustrations.

A CHILD'S GARDEN OF VERSES. By Robert Lotus
Stevenson. With 120 illustrations.

The handsomest edition of these charming verses ever pub-
lished.

ANIMAL STORIES FOR LITTLE PEOPLE. With 50
illustrations.

The animals do the talking.

ROMULUS, the Founder of Rome. By Jacob Abbott.
With 49 illustrations.

In a plain and connected narrative, the author tells the stories
of the founder of Rome and his great ancestor, .Eneas. These
are of necessity somewhat legendary in character, but are pre-
sented precisely as they have come down to us from ancient times.
They are prefaced by an account of the life and inventions of Cad-
mus, the " Father of the Alphabet," as he is often called.

CYRUS THE GREAT, the Founder of the Persian Empire.
By Jacob Abbott. With 40 illustrations.

For nineteen hundred years, the story of the founder of the an-
cient Persian empire has been read by every generation of man-
kind. The story of the life and actions of Cyrus, as told by the
author, presents vivid pictures of the magnificence of a monarchy
that rose about five hundred years before the Christian era, and
rolled on in undisturbed magnitude and glory for many centuries.

ADVENTURES IN TOYLAND. By Edith King Hull.
With 70 illustrations by Alice B. Woodward.

The sayings and doings of the dwellers in toyland, related by
one of them to a dear little girl. It is a delightful book for chil-
dren, and admirably illustrated.

8 ALTEMUS' VOUNG PEOPLE'S LIBRARY.

DARIUS THE GREAT, King of the Medes and Persians.
By Jacob Abbott. With 34 illustrations.

No great exploits marked the career of this monarch, who was
at one time the absolute sovereign of nearly one-half of the world.
He reached his high position by a stratagem, and left behind him
no strong impressions of personal character, yet, the history of his
life and reign should be read along with those of Cyrus, Csesar,
Hannibal and Alexander.

XERXES THE GREAT, King of Persia. By Jacob Ab-
bott. With 39 illustrations.

For ages the name of Xerxes has been associated in the minds
of men with the idea of the highest attainable human magnificence
and grandeur. He was the sovereign of the ancient Persian em-
pire at the height of its prosperity and power. The invasion of
Greece by the Persian hordes, the battle of Thermopylae, the burn-
ing of Athens, and the defeat of the Persian galleys at Salamis are
chapters of thrilling interest.

THE ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE. By Miss
Mulock, author of John Halifax, Gentleman, etc. With
18 illustrations.

One of the best of Miss Murlock's charming stories for children.
All the situations are amusing and are sure to please youthful
readers.

ALEXANDER THE GREAT, King of Macedon. By
Jacob Abbott. With 51 illustrations.

Born heir to the throne of Macedon, a country on the confines
of Europe and Asia, Alexander crowded into a brief career of
twelve years a brilliant series of exploits. The readers of to-day
will find pleasure and profit in the history of Alexander the Great,
a potentate before whom ambassadors and princes from nearly all
the nations of the earth bowed in humility.

PYRRHUS, King of Epirus. By Jacob Abbott. With 45
illustrations.

The story of Pyrrhus is one of the ancient narratives which has
been told and retold (of many centuries in the literature, eloquence
and poetry of all civilized nations. While possessed of extraordi-
nary ability as a military leader, Pyrrhus actually accomplished
Bothing, but did mischief on a gigantic scale. He was naturally

ALTEMUS' YOUNG PEOPLE'S LIBRARY.

of a noble and generous spirit, but only succeded in perpetrating
crimes against the peace and welfare of mankind.

HANNIBAL, the Carthaginian. By Jacob Abbott. With
27 illustrations.

Hannibal's distinction as a warrior was gained during the des-
perate contests between Rome and Carthage, known as the Punic
wars. Entering the scene when his country was engaged in peace-
ful traffic with the various countries of the known world, he turned
its energies into military aggression, conquest and war, becoming
himself one of the greatest military heroes the world has ever
known.

MIXED PICKLES. By Mrs. E. M. Field. With 31 illus-
trations by T. Pym.

A remarkably entertaining story for young people. The reader
is introduced to a charming little girl whose mishaps while trying
to do good are very appropriately termed " Mixed Pickles."

JULIUS CAESAR, the Roman Conqueror. By Jacob Ab-
bott. With 44 illustrations.

The life and actions of Julius Caesar embrace a peiiod in Roman
history beginning with the civil wars of Marius and Sylla and end-
ing with the tragic deaih of Ccesar Imperator. The work is an
accurate historical account of the l.fe and times of one of the great
military figures in history, i 1 fact, it is history itself, and as such is
especially commended to the readers of the present generation.

ALFRED THE GREAT, of England. By Jacob Abbott.
With 40 illustrations.

In a certain sense, Alfred appears in history as the founder of
the British monarchy : his predecessors having governed more like
savage chieftains than English kings. The work has a special
value for young readers, for the character of Alfred was that of an
honest, conscientious and far-seeing statesman. The romantic
story of Godwin furnishes the conclilurng chapter of the volume,

WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR, of England. By Jacob
Abbott. With 43 illustrations.

The life and times of William of Normandy have always been a
fruitful theme for the historian. War and pillage and conquest
were at least a part of the everyday business of men iu both Eng-

ALTEMUS* YOUNG PEOPLE'S LIBRARY.

land and France : and the story of William as told by the author
of this volume makes some of the most fascinating pages in his-
tory. It is especially delightful to young readers.

HERNANDO CORTEZ, the Conqueror of Mexico. By
Jacob Abbott. With 30 illustrations.

In this volume the author gives vivid pictures of the wild and
adventurous career of Cortez and his companions in the conquest
of Mexico. Many good motives were united with those of ques-
. tionable character, in the prosecution of his enterprise, but in
those days it was a matter of national ambition to enlarge the
boundaries of nations and to extend their commerce at any cost.
The career of Cortez is one of absorbing interest.

THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE. By Miss Mulock. With

24 illustrations.

The author styles it "A Parable for Old and Young." It is in her
happiest vein and delightfully interesting, especially to youthful
readers.

MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS. By Jacob Abbott. With
45 illustrations.

The story of Mary Stuart holds a prominent place in the present
series of historical narrations. It has had many tellings, for the
melancholy story of the unfortunate queen has always held a high
place in the estimation of successive generations of readers. Her
story is full of romance and pathos, and the reader is carried along
by conflicting emotions of wonder and sympathy.

QUEEN ELIZABETH, of England. By Jacob Abbott.
With 49 illustrations.

In strong contrast to the story of Mary, Queen of Scots, is that
of Elizabeth, Queer, of England. They were cousins, yet im-
placable foes. Elizabeth's reign was in many ways a glorious one,
and her successes gained her the applause of the world. The
stirring tales of Drake, Hawkins and other famous mariners of
her time have been incorporated into the story of Elizabeth's life
and reign.

KING CHARLES THE FIRST, of England. By Jacob
Abbott. With 41 illustrations.

The well-known figures in the stormy reign of Charles I. are
brought forward in this narrative of his life and times. It is his-
tory told in the most fascinating manner, and embraces the early

ALTRMUS* VOVNO PEOPLE'S LIBRARY. II

HTe of Charles ; the court of James I.; struggles between Charles
and the Parliament; the Civil war; the trial and execution of the
king. The narrative is impartial and holds the attention of the
reader.

KING CHARLES THE SECOND, of England. By Jacob
Abbott. With 38 illustrations.

Beginning with his infancy, the life of the " Merry Monarch "
is related in the author's inimitable style. His reign was signal-
ized by many disastrous events, besides those that related to his
personal troubles and embarrassments. There were unfortunate
wars ; naval defeats ; dangerous and disgraceful plots and con-
spiracies. Trouble sat very lightly on the shoulders of Charles II.,
however, and the cares of state were easily forgotten in the society
of his court and dogs.

THE SLEEPY KING. By Aubrey Hopwood and Seymoui
Hicks. With 77 illustrations by Maud Trelawney.

A charmingly-told Fairy Tale, full of delight and entertain-
ment. The illustrations are original and striking, adding greatlj
to the interest of the text.

MARIA ANTOINETTE, Queen of France. By John S. G
Abbott. With 42 illustrations.

The tragedy of Maria Antoinette is one of the most mournful in
the history of the world. " Her beauty dazzled the whole king-
dom," says Lamartine. Her lofty and unbending spirit undei
unspeakable indignities and atrocities, enlists and holds the sympa
thies of the readers of to-day, as it has donti in the past.

MADAME ROLAND, A Heroine of the French Revolution,
By Jacob Abbott. With 42 illustrations.

The French Revolution developed few, if any characters more
worthy of notice than that of Madame Roland. The absence of
playmates, in her youth, inspired her with an insatiate thirst for
knowledge, and books became her constant companions in ever)'
unoccupied hour. She fell a martyr to the tyrants of the French
Revolution, but left behind her a career full of instruction tha'
never fails to impress itself upon the reader.

JOSEPHINE, Empress of France. By Jacob Abbott With
40 illustrations.

12 ALTEMUS* YOUNG PEOPLE'S LIBRARY.

Maria Antoinette beheld the dawn of the French Revolution ;
Madame Roland perished under the lurid glare of its high noon ;
Josephine saw it fade into darkness. She has been called the
" Star of Napoleon ; " and it is certain that she added luster to
his brilliance, and that her persuasive influence was often exerted
to win a friend or disarm an adversary. The lives of the Empress
Josephine, of Maria Antoinette, and of Madame Roland are
especially commended to young lady readers.

TALES FROM SHAKESPEARE. By Charles and Mary
Lamb. With 80 illustrations.

The text is somewhat abridged and edited for young people, but
a clear and definite outline of each play is presented. Such episodes
or incidental sketches of character as are not absolutely necessary
to the development of the tales are omitted, while the many moral
lessons that lie in Shakespeare's plays and make them valuable in
the training of the young are retained. The book is winning, help-
ful and an effectual guide to the ' ' inner shrine ' ' of the great
dramatist.

HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY'S NEW
PUBLICATIONS.

ALTEMUS' ILLUSTRATED YOUNG PEOPLE'S HIS-
TORY OF THE UNITED STATES. By Edward S.
Ellis, A. M. 121T10, cloth, ornamental, 380 pages, 164
illustrations, $1.00.

It is appropriate that the initial work of this series should be that
of our own country. From a few struggling colonies strung along
the Atlantic seaboard, with a population of less than three millions,
it has expanded in a little more than a century to an area that
stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the frozen
regions of the North to the Gulf of Mexico, with almost a hundred
million inhabitants.

This volume enables every boy and girl to make themselves
familiar with the leading facts in our history from the discovery of
America to the present lime. It will make them, if possible, more
patriotic, and will stimulate an interest in deeper historical study.

The full text of the Constitution of the United States and tables
of the Presidents are given ; also the area and population of each
state and territory, with the derivation of its name and the date of
its admission into the Union. These, with an exhaustive index,
round out the volume to generous proportions.

HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY'S NEW FURT.TCATIONS. IJ

ALTEMUS' ILLUSTRATED YOUNG PEOPLE'S HIS-
TORY OF ENGLAND. By Edward S. Ellis, A. M.
121110,, cloth, ornamental, 330 pages, 164 illustrations,
$1.00.

No history can be more absorbing and instructive to youths and
adults than the History of England, and the aim of this volume is
to enable them to easily acquire a knowledge of the leading facts in
the building of the stupendous British Empire, whose full history,
teeming with mighty events and spanning twenty centuries, requires
volumes for the telling.

It is not intended that this shall take the place of the larger works
— Hume, Macaulay, Freeman, Froude, and others — but instead to
note the towering landmarks which mark the sweep of the empire
along the road of discovery, conquest, progress, development,
civilization, learning, art, literature, science and Christianity. Yet,
it is a comprehensive survey of the advancement of a horde of wild
savages, conquered by the Romans before the Christian Era, to the
proud position of the foremost Christian Power of the Old World.

Valuable reference tables, showing a list of the sovereigns of
England, its colonies and dependencies, with dates and modes of
acquisition, area, population, etc., are incorporated into the volume.

ALTEMUS' ILLUSTRATED YOUNG PEOPLE'S HIS-
TORY OF FRANCE. By Edward S. Ellis, A. M.
121110, cloth, ornamental, 355 pages, 115 illustrations,
#1.00.

France is a wonderful nation, and her history is instructive, for
it includes every system of government that the ingenuity of man
can devise. It is full of warnings, too, and of instructive lessons
for American youths, lessons of absorbing interest and of amazing
length and breadth,

ALTEMUS' ILLUSTRATED YOUNG PEOPLE'S HIS-
TORY OF GERMANY. By Edward S. Ellis, A. M.
l2mo, cloth, ornamental, 320 pages, 115 illustrations,
$1.00.

The record of Germany, now among the foremost Powers of the
globe, is one of valiant achievement on the battlefield, of patient
suffering under grinding tyranny, of grim resolution and heroic
endeavor, and of grand triumphs in art, science, literature, diplo-
macy. It is a story of patriotic toil, sacrifice and daring.

14 HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY'S NEW PUBLICATIONS.

ALTEMUS' ILLUSTRATED YOUNG PEOPLE'S HIS-
TORY OF ROME. By Edward S. Ellis, A. M.
i2mo., cloth, ornamental, 300 pages, 100 illustrations,
$1.00.

The shriveled Rome of to-day is but a faint shadow of the stu-
pendous empire whose mailed legions made the earth tremble be-
neath their tread; but the story of its grandeur can never be lost,
and shall influence mankind through all ages to come. Its mag-
nificence has never been surpassed; its heroism and sacrifices
have touched the limit of human endeavor.

ALTEMUS' ILLUSTRATED YOUNG PEOPLE'S HIS-
TORY OF GREECE. By Edward S. Ellis, A. M.
121110,, cloth, ornamental, 300 pages, 100 illustrations,

$1.00.

We know very little of the early history of the Greeks ; yet, by
digging deep into the ground, we find remains of ancient strong-
holds and cities ; mighty tombs, with not only the dust of dead
warriors in them, but swords, ornaments and pottery as well ; and
from these we can paint vague pictures of the Mythical or Heroic
Age of Greece.

GALOPOFF, THE TALKING PONY. By Tudor Jenks,
author of " Imaginotions," "The Century World's Fair
Book," "The Boys' Book of Exploration," etc., etc.
Pictures by Howard R. Cort. i2mo, cloth, 244 pages,

$1.00.

A story for young folks, told in the captivating style that has
made Mr. Jenks' name a household word wherever there are Eng-
lish-speaking boys and girls. The book is delightful reading ; as
enjoyable as " Black Beauty," or "Alice in Wonderland."

CAPS AND CAPERS. By Gabrielle E. Jackson, author of
"Pretty Polly Perkins," " Denise and Ned Toodles,"
"By Love's Sweet Rule," etc., etc. Pictures by C. M.
Relyea. i2mo, cloth, 292 pages, $1.00.

A story of boarding-school life, far above the average of such
stories. Toinette Reeve, who has scarcely known the influence of
a happy home or tender mother's love, is taken from a school where

HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY'S NEW PUBLICATIONS. 15

the possession of money atones for shortcomings in character, and
is placed with sensible, loving instructors who arc not one whit be-
hind their charges in the spirit of good fellowship.

THE LITTLE LADY— HER BOOK. By Albert Bigelow
Paine, author of "The Hollow Tree," "The Deep
Woods," "The Arkansaw Bear," etc., etc. Pictures by
Mabel L. Humphrey, Louise L. Heustis and others.
121110, cloth, 315 pages, $1.00.

The Little Lady, who lives with the Big Man and the Little
Woman in the House of Many Windows, is a dainty little girl to
whom the Big Man tells stories and sings songs ; just such stories
and songs as children love. Then there are walks and excursions
and many adventures, which the Little Woman shares with them.

TOMMY FOSTER'S ADVENTURES. By Fred A. Ober,
author of "The Silver City," "Montezuma's Gold
Mines," "Crusoe's Island," " The Knockabout Club
Books," etc., etc. Pictures by Stanley M. Arthur.
1 21110, cloth, 248 pages, $1.00.

It is worth while for boys to read such a book as this, and girls,
too, for that matter. Tommy is a sturdy American boy who has a
glorious time in the Southwest among the Navajo, Zuni, Moqui
and Pueblo Indians. Boylike, he gets into a "scrape," but a
young Indian becomes his friend and later shares his adventures.
The author has lived among the scenes he describes; and there is
plenty of fun and incident.

FOLLY IN FAIRYLAND. By Carolyn Wells, author of
"Story of Betty," "Idle Idyls'," "The Merry Go
Round," " At the Sign of the Sphinx," etc., etc. Pictures
by Wallace Morgan. 121110, cloth, 260 pages, $1.00.

If a little girl or boy who loves fairies (and what child doesn't ?)
wants to go to Fairyland, and find out how they live there, what
their houses are like, and what they do to amuse themselves, just
read this book and be transported into the very heart of Fairyland
itself. Every well-known personage of nursery lore eagerly helped
to make Folly's trip to Fairyland a success, and this delightful
matter, told in Miss Wells' own crisp and original manner, with
frequent interspersions of her rhythmical, jingly rhymes, goes to
make up the gayest, jolliest child's book of the season.

HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY'S NEW PUBLICATIONS.

FOLLY IN THE FOREST. By Carolyn Wells, author of
" Folly in Fairyland," etc. Pictures by Reginald B.
Birch. i2mo, cloth, 282 pages, $1.00.

Regarded by many as Miss Weds' best work. In this charming
volume Folly meets and talks with the famous animals and birds
of Mythology, History and Literature.

;/PSY, THE TALKING DOG. By Tudor Jenks, author
of " Galopoff, the Talking Pony," etc. Pictures by
Reginald B. Birch. i2tno, cloth, $1.00.

If Gypsy, the talking dog, had not met Galopoff, the talking
pony, this story could not have been written, and boys and girls
everywhere would have lost a most enjoyable book.

DOUGHNUTS AND DIPLOMAS. By Gabrielle E. Jack-
son, author of "Caps and Capers," etc. Pictures by
C. M. Relyea. i2mo, cloth, $1.00.

All of Mrs. Jackson's books are delightful reading, especially for
girls, and this volume, with its determined and purposeful, yet
lovable, heroine is no exception to the rule.

FOR PREY AND SPOILS; OR, THE BOY BUCCANEER.
By Fred. A. Ober, author of "Tommy Foster's Adven-
tures," etc. Fully illustrated. 121110, cloth, $1.00.

Mr. Ober is the best authority on Spanish-America we have,
and a story of pirates and their haunts could not be in better
hands. This, his latest story, is at once thrilling, humorous and
instructive.

RATAPLAN. A ROGUE ELEPHANT, AND OTHER
STORIES. By Ellen Velvin, F. Z. S., author of "Tales
Told at the Zoo," "Jack's Visit," etc. Illustrations
in color by Gustave Verbeek. i2mo, cloth, $1.25 net;
postage, 13 cents.

Books that help us to a more intimate acquaintance with the
habits, traits and characteristics of animals are very welcome.
The latest addition to this literature is a volume of spirited and
well-told stories from the pen of Ellen Velvin, a writer of many
successful books for children, a magazinist of acknowledged abil-
ity, and a Fellow of the Zoological Society, (London.)

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